Connected Souls
by keelhaulrose
Summary: When Hermione is killed during the Battle of Hogwarts she is given the option to live as long as she helps others 'fight the darkness'. She doesn't know that agreeing means she'll be taken to a galaxy far, far away, and when she gets there she needs to adapt to her surroundings and to Kylo Ren while also finding a way to fulfill her mission.
1. I

**A/N: Hello, everyone! In case you were wondering what rock I crawled under for the past few months, let me tell you: I've been writing this fic. Back when it was still 2017 I was in a writing slump and had a major lack of motivation, but I had this fic bouncing around in my head. I joined the Hermione's Haven Big Bang fest, which would require me to write a 50,000 word story. After joining there was a lot of crap that went down in my life (I had health issues, my husband got hurt on the job and was off work, my job was chaos, we had deaths in the family, and family illnesses) so there was a lot of "I'm never going to get this done" but I powered through and finally finished with less than a week to spare.**

 **So this fic is completely done. All said and done it's 60,539 words. And it is available in its entirety over at AO3. I will be posting chapters rather quickly because of that, but I do recommend you hop over there (same pen name) or search for me on Flickr (again, same pen name) because the absolutely wonderful xxDustNight88 made aesthetics for every chapter and they are magnificent (minor spoilers if you look before you read). Seriously, go look, because she deserves much more credit than I can possibly write into words. Also many millions of thanks to Rachael, my beta, for putting up with my insanity. Sorry for dumping a half dozen chapters on you with a week before deadline.**

 **Here's the standard I don't own HP or Star Wars.**

 **Without further ado...**

It was quiet.

And calm.

Hermione's eyes flew open, but rather than a battle ravaged castle as she expected, her vision was assaulted with a seemingly endless expanse of brilliant, empty white. Cautiously she pushed herself into a kneeling position and looked around. What once looked empty slowly started to take shape, a large building forming to her right. Brow furrowed she stood and moved towards it, a staircase forming in front of her leading up to a set of double doors gleaming with an ethereal light. For a long moment she debated climbing them, but something held her back.

"I do so wish I didn't see you here," a voice said behind her, and she jumped and spun around.

"Professor Lupin!" she breathed.

"Hullo, Hermione," Lupin said with a warm smile.

Despite his friendly greeting something made Hermione hesitate, and a moment later she realized that it's because he looked different, the scars on his face diminished, the worldly look gone.

"Where are we?" she asked.

"I'm not sure, actually. I was kind of hoping you could tell me."

She looked around again. "It's my junior school," she said softly.

"Is it now?" he smiled, looking around. "Come, let's sit and have a chat," he said, starting towards a playground, but she remained rooted to the spot.

"I'm dead, aren't I?" she asked.

He stopped and turned to look at her, but didn't say anything.

"I was in the middle of the battle, and now I'm here. I died, and you and this place... you're here to soften the blow so I can move on."

"You always were exceptionally bright," he replied. "That is one of your options, however, it is not your only option."

"It's not?" she asked in surprise.

"You just witnessed your best friend return from the dead, did you not?"

"But Harry was a Horcrux," she replied. "It's different."

He cocked his head to the side. "How long did you know?"

"I've suspected for some time," she replied softly. "But how do you tell someone they have to die and have them keep going?"

"Well, Hermione, you must realize that if one person could accomplish the feat of returning, that more than one may have that ability?"

"Considering I've never heard of it being done..." she shot back, walking past him as a playground seemed to materialize around them. She sat on one of the swings, facing the building and the glowing door. After a moment Lupin came to sit next to her.

"I must apologize. I am not doing much to soften the blow, am I?"

"I would prefer you not lie to me," she murmured. "I am not special. I don't get to go back. I am going through that door."

"I am not lying," he said, leaning over so his elbows were on his knees so he could look at her. "Though I would not call it 'going back'."

"What would it be, then?"

He studied her for a moment. "You can go through that door. I am assuming that it holds some significance to you..."

"This is where I chose to go to Hogwarts," she said.

"Really?" he looked surprised.

"Everyone assumes that it was an easy decision, but it was terrifying at first. McGonagall showing up at my door and telling me about this fantastic world away from everything I ever knew. I would be going to a place hundreds of miles from my family, I'd be giving up the few friends I had, and I was very torn for a few days. I had a couple interviews set up with some secondary schools, and I was sitting right here when I decided I would rather go to Hogwarts. I didn't even go inside to explain that I had chosen elsewhere, I just didn't go in."

"From what your professors told me you were quite enthusiastic about coming," he pointed out.

"Of course I was, once I decided. You couldn't stop me from diving into books," she smiled. "But there were a few days of doubt."

He turned and looked at the door.

"So if it's not going back, what would it be?" she asked again.

"Your battle is over. You knew that in your heart when you passed. In the back of your mind you must realize what made you special at the end of the battle."

She thought for several minutes until realization came over her. "Once Harry went into those woods I don't remember anyone else on our side dying..." she replied.

"Exactly," he nodded. "He sacrificed himself to protect those in the castle."

"Then why did I die?"

"Because you are special," he said softly. "And you are needed elsewhere."

"Where?" she looked at him skeptically.

"There are other fights, other people facing darkness. They could always use more help."

"So... if I go back, I have to join one of these other fights?"

"I daresay it will find you," he nodded.

"How? Am I going to be reborn?"

"Yes, and no."

She stopped, waiting for him to elaborate, but he said nothing else. "How?"

"That is something you will have to find out if you go on. I am only here to give you the option."

"That is rather maddening," she sighed.

"It is," he said, standing.

"You're leaving?" she asked in surprise.

"This is a journey you must embark upon on your own. I was merely here to help you come to terms with it," he smiled. He turned and started walking away.

"Why you?" she called after him.

Lupin turned back and studied her a moment. "I'm sure you know that better than I," he replied softly.

"Because I trusted you," she answered herself. "Dumbledore was wiser, but he hid so much I wouldn't trust him. You're here, I think, because I trust you. But when you were our professor you were careful to never completely walk us through something, you would push us to do it ourselves. And so this is something I must do myself."

He smiled one more time and nodded. "I wish you luck, Hermione," he said, before turning and walking away. She looked back up at the door, then back at him, but he was gone. Knowing immediately that her history was about to repeat itself she stood, turned away from the door, and started walking. As she walked things became less defined, until she found herself in an expanse of white, the glowing light behind her. She felt a strange tugging in her chest, as if something were trying to pull her forward, and there was a darkness to the feeling that put her on edge. But she knew she couldn't turn around, because turning around was giving up on her friends, on seeing the world they had fought for, of seeing Harry finally free of Voldemort. Unsure of what to do she sat down, closed her eyes, and leaned back.

XXXXXXX

Across the galaxy heads snapped up in unison, some more driven to do so than others. Most of those afflicted shook their heads and returned to whatever they were doing, but to some the feeling was stronger, much more compelling and terrifying.

It wasn't so much an awakening in the Force than the feeling that something very powerful had just sprung into existence. Several sets of eyes closed, reaching out, trying to find the source. They were quite sure that whatever was the source of the disturbance could make the difference in the ongoing war, and instinctively each knew they must be the first to find it.

XXXXXXX

The air became thick, causing her to take several deep breaths, the smell of earth assaulting her nostrils and grounding her. She opened her eyes to a sea of brilliant colors, green prominently spattered with bright colored flowers bathed in sunlight that peeked through the thick forest canopy. She took a moment to take in the beauty of it all before assessing her situation. She realized quickly that her hand was still wrapped around her wand, and the sight of it calmed some of her nerves. Cautiously she rose to her feet and looked around. Jungle. She was in a jungle. But there were no sounds of birds, no buzz of insects, no signs of animal life at all. She felt her bag at her side, and, after looking around one more time to make sure nothing was around her she opened it up and looked inside. Everything she had packed in there was still there, the tent she had borrowed from Bill in case they needed to run again, some potions, her books, some of her clothes, and some of Harry and Ron's. Sadness settled deep in her chest, and she shook her head in an attempt to drive it away. That's why she came back, wasn't it? To help with whatever fight needed her and after to find Harry and Ron again. Hopefully it didn't take too long.

She held her wand out in her open palm in front of her. " _Hominum revelio,"_ she whispered. To her surprise nothing happened. A thought ran through her head, maybe she couldn't do magic anymore, but a quick _Aguamenti_ charm settled that fear. She tried _Hominum revelio_ again but still nothing happened. If there was a fight she was to join why was she so far away from other people that her wand couldn't point her towards them? She looked around and saw where the ground was sloping upwards, so she decided to head that way, hoping to find some high ground that might give her an idea of where people were near her. She started climbing up the slope, feet sinking slightly in the rich, red-brown soil under her feet. The thick, humid air strained her lungs, and too soon she leaned against a tree trunk for a rest. As she looked around she saw a rather unusual looking animal peeking out from behind a tree trunk. She stood as still as possible, and the thing moved a little further out, sniffing the air and trying to determine how dangerous the newcomer was. It looked like a fox, but the fur was all wrong, a camouflage of greens and browns that seemed to shift as it walked, making it nearly impossible to see. It let off a strange chirping noise as it looked around, and Hermione could see several more behind it.

"What are you?" she asked softly, and in a flurry of chirps the creatures darted away. She looked around to make sure she wasn't in danger, then pressed on. For the next hour or so she would walk for ten minutes, rest for five, as the slope became steeper and the ground gave too much under her feet to be sure of her footing. When she finally reached the top of the hill she huffed in annoyance, the foliage was too thick all around to get any bearings on where she was or where other people might be. Looking up she decided she would have to get above the canopy to get a good look at her surroundings. She conjured a tall ladder with her wand and secured it against the tallest tree she could see. After stashing her wand in her pocket and making sure her bag was secured out of the way she began to climb, taking her time and trying not to look down. Once she got to the top of the ladder she carefully climbed onto one of the bigger limbs, then hoisted herself to the next, only looking up until she got above the tops of the nearest trees, but what she saw nearly sent her tumbling back down to the ground in surprise.

There were two suns in the sky, not one.

"That's not possible," she murmured to herself, when suddenly movement in the sky caught her eye. She watched in fascination as a large craft appeared in the sky above, and started to descend towards her. She pressed herself against the trunk of the tree, trying to keep hidden behind some of the biggest leaves, and watched as the craft touched down not too far away. She could hear some voices as people started to disembark, and in a moment of panic decided that she needed to get as far away as possible. As quickly as she dared she swung down from the branches, reaching the ladder she climbed down as quickly as she could, but as she reached the bottom she realized she had taken too long, as she heard something moving in the foliage behind her. She spun around, wand out.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," a man with brown hair, wearing green pants and a black jacket emerged from behind a tree, hands out in front of him. "Easy," he said carefully. "I'm Poe, I'm with the Resistance," he continued, turning one shoulder to show a symbol on a patch sewn on his left shoulder.

"The what?" she asked, not lowering her wand.

"The Resistance," he repeated, brow furrowed. "General Leia Organa wanted to come here to find you."

"Neither of those names mean anything to me," she replied.

"What's your name?" he asked.

She debated telling him for a long moment. "Hermione Granger," she finally said.

"Nice to meet you, Hermione," he flashed her a smile. "Where are you from?"

"London," she replied.

"Never heard of it," he looked confused. "What system is it in?"

"What do you mean, what system?" she felt panic starting to rise in her chest.

He looked at her in surprise. "How did you get to this planet, Hermione?" he asked.

"I just kind of woke up here," she replied.

"Did you crash? Where's your ship?"

"I... I don't..."

Something beeped on his belt. "Damn," he whispered. "Hermione, we need to go. The First Order is on the move, they will be here soon..."

"The who?" her voice was raised as her confusion grew.

"The First Order," he repeated. "They would have noticed your appearance, too, and you really don't want Kylo Ren coming after you. We need to go," he repeated.

Looking around and deciding she had nothing to really lose she nodded, and he motioned for her to follow him back to the ship. They ran down the hill towards where it was waiting.

"I've got her!" Poe called loudly. "Let's go!"

Several other people appeared from the woods, all running full-tilt towards the ship. As they reached it several menacing-looking ships appeared on the horizon. Hermione reacted instinctively as they entered the ship, door shutting behind them. She drew her wand and pointed it upwards, muttering a spell.

"What are you doing?" a woman asked.

"An invisibility spell," she replied. "They won't be able to see us. And a protective spell."

The group exchanged looks, but Poe shrugged. "I'm not going to complain if she can keep them from seeing us," he said, getting into the front seat and starting to press buttons, but he paused as the ships started to approach, and the whole crew fell still and silent as if a slight shift would draw the attention of the approaching craft and bring them down upon them. As they flew overhead Hermione felt something, a presence, dark and powerful, moving over them. It was the same kind of feeling that came over her whenever Voldemort was nearby. She pressed herself against the wall as if trying to hide herself from the feeling and screwed her eyes shut. Thankfully the ships passed and Poe pressed some buttons, raising it into the air and shooting off in the other direction. Hermione sat on a chair as the others did around her and mimicked their movements as they buckled themselves in. She craned her neck, looking out the front window as Poe and another pilot steered the ship skyward.

"They're starting to follow…" someone announced.

"No, just Ren's ship," someone corrected.

"We just need to beat them another minute more…" Poe replied.

"You alright there?" the woman next to her asked, and Hermione realized she was hyperventilating.

"We're going into space," she replied, wide-eyed.

"Of course," the woman replied, looking at her curiously. "We couldn't just stay there, the First Order might find us, not to mention it's uninhabited and the animals that come out at night are dangerous."

"I've never been into space," she replied.

"But how...?" she trailed off in amazement.

"Going to light speed!" Poe announced.

"Light speed?" Hermione repeated loudly, and a moment later she watched in terrified amazement as the stars beyond the screen warped and the ship shot forward.

"Poe, I don't think your girl is doing so good," she heard someone say before her vision went black and she slumped over, unconscious.

XXXXXXX

When she woke up she was in a white room, lying on a bed, monitors sitting silent around her. She looked to one side and saw Poe leaning against a wall, arms crossed, smiling at her.

"Welcome back," he said. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I'm in some kind of weird dream," she replied, sitting up.

"Trust me, you're not the only one feeling that. Things are a bit surreal at the moment."

"Where am I?" she asked.

"You're on a base on D'Qar. Leia told me to stay with you until she could get here."

"Who is Leia?" she asked.

"General Leia Organa," he said, pausing as if this should cause her to recognize the name. "She's kind of in charge around here."

"Oh," she replied simply.

"What did you do with this?" he asked, picking her wand up off a table and studying it. "The First Order ships flew right over us, and only the one seemed to realize we might be there. How did you hide us?"

Hermione debated telling him, but replied, "A basic cloaking spell, and a notice-me-not spell." When he looked at her in confusion she lowered her voice and said, "Magic."

"Like the Force?" he raised an eyebrow.

"What's the Force?" she asked, confused.

He opened his mouth to reply, but the door opened with a soft hiss and a woman walked in, but when Hermione saw the creature next to her she gave a nervous yelp and backed up involuntarily.

The woman looked at her, then turned towards the creature. "Thank you, Admiral Akbar, that will be all."

Akbar nodded and left.

"Commander Dameron, I have an assignment for you," she said, holding out a piece of paper.

"On it, General," he stood, taking the paper. "Take care, Hermione," he smiled back at her before leaving the room.

Leia waited until the door closed before pulling up a chair and sitting next to Hermione's bed. "You look frightened," she said softly.

"I don't think that quite covers it," Hermione replied.

"I'm Leia Organa," she smiled warmly.

"Hermione Granger," she replied.

"How are you feeling?"

"Scared," she replied immediately. "Overwhelmed. Lost."

"Understandable," she nodded. "From what Poe has told me your arrival is somewhat unconventional. And we've been unable to locate anywhere called London."

"London is a city on Earth," she replied.

"I still haven't heard of it."

"I'm not surprised," she replied honestly. "The furthest anyone on my planet has gone is the moon, and not many have done that. Spaceships that can travel at light speed... that's just science fiction back home."

She looked at her in surprise for a moment. "Why don't you tell me your story, Hermione?"

Hermione felt a moment of panic, unsure of how much she should reveal, but in the end her need to confess to someone won out. "I… I was in a battle. There was this dark wizard who had taken over the magical community in my country, and I was the kind of person he wanted dead. So my friends and I fought back. We hunted down and destroyed bits of his soul, and then fought in a big battle to finish him. We were on the cusp of winning when I died…"

"Died?" she raised an eyebrow.

"I was hit with a killing curse cast by a woman who was quite skilled in them. I died. But I was given the opportunity to come back, to help others in the fight against the darkness, and I decided to do so because I thought that it was the way to see my friends again. But I woke up…" she stopped suddenly, giving a vague gesture around her.

"How long ago did you wake up?"

She glanced at her watch, then realized something. "I don't know, a couple hours, maybe. It wasn't long before Poe found me."

Leia seemed to contemplate this for a moment before saying, "You mentioned a wizard and spells?"

"Yes," she nodded, figuring she was far enough away from the Ministry to be able to confess everything without retribution. "I'm a witch."

Realization crossed Leia's face. "Shortly before I sent Commander Dameron off to that planet I felt something, a disturbance in the Force unlike anything I had ever felt."

"That's the second time someone's mentioned this Force, and I still don't know what you're talking about," she said, trying to hide her irritation.

"The Force surrounds all of us, Hermione," she replied patiently. "It connects all living things, connects everything, really. Some people are more attuned with it than others, we can feel these connections, sometimes even across long distances. At what I can only assume is the moment of your rebirth I felt a great upheaval in the Force, the realization that something very powerful had just arrived, as sudden as a meteor hitting the ground. With you standing there, I can tell I am in the presence of someone quite powerful, but you are... different than anything I've ever felt, Hermione."

"I've gathered that over the past few hours, actually," she said timidly.

"Those who are attuned to the Force generally gravitate either towards the Light or the Dark. There is a long and complex history to it, but in comes down to a balance between the Light and the Dark. But when I felt your arrival… I could not tell. Standing next to you I still cannot tell. I look at you and I feel light and dark ebbing in waves, and pain and confusion, but also hope."

"I don't feel any of that," she replied softly. "Wait, no, when that other ship passed over us. I felt something… powerful. And dark. Like Voldemort. Someone said a name, Kylo Ren, I think."

An unreadable look passed over Leia's face in a heartbeat. "I wouldn't have been the only one who felt your arrival. Snoke and Kylo Ren, they would have felt it, too. And I'm not surprised Snoke sent someone to find you, considering it's the exact same move that I made."

"I'm sorry, but these names don't mean anything to me," she replied. "And I feel like I made a mistake. All this? It's too much."

"I understand," she said kindly. "Right now my priority is to keep you safe. It is up to you to decide where your path lies. I hope that you become an ally, I think someone as powerful as you could be a valuable asset in our fight. But you must make that decision on your own. For now, I will set you up with a place to stay." She stood, and motioned for Hermione to follow. Hermione slowly got to her feet and made sure she had all her things before following her to the door.

"Do you have any books I could read about all this?" she asked mildly.

"I think I could find something for you," she nodded.

Hermione looked around as they walked. She watched a droid roll past, walked past windows where she could look out on spacecraft being worked on, and overheard several different languages. The further they walked the smaller she felt, and by the time Leia opened the door to a small bunk room she felt the size of a drop in the ocean.

"I'll give you a moment while I gather a few things," Leia nodded before leaving her.

Hermione hugged herself tightly as she walked into the room and heard the door shut behind her. The room was just large enough for the bed and small desk it contained, and there was nothing on the bare shelves. A door to one side opened into a tiny bathroom, and she could see that she would be sharing it with at least one other room. She closed the bathroom door before sitting on the bed, hugging her beaded bag tightly to her chest. For several minutes she carefully calmed herself down, and tried to clear her mind so she could try to plan her next move.

The door slid open, revealing a small white and orange droid on the other side. It rolled inside the door, making a series of beeping noises.

"Um, hullo there," she said, unable to stop a smile crossing her face.

"BB8!" Poe came running up. "I'm sorry, Hermione, I told him you were still adjusting to everything around here, but sometimes he gets so excited…"

"Oh, he's yours?" she smiled.

"He's my little buddy," he beamed, reaching down and rubbing BB8's head. "Leia thought it might be best if I delivered these things to you," he said, placing a bag he was carrying on the desk. "It's just some clothes, some toiletries, and this," he added, pulling out a worn book.

"What's this?" she asked, reaching for it.

"Leia's journal," he smiled. "She tells the story of the war with the Empire, and a bit about the rise of the First Order."

"Thanks," she said with a smile, but she suddenly winced.

"Everything alright?" he asked, sounding concerned.

"Yes," she replied, though the stain in her voice was evident. "Old… injury. It's fresh enough that it sometimes flares up."

"Do you want something…?"

"No," she shook her head. "It'll pass. I'll distract myself with this," she said, patting the journal.

"Press this button if you change your mind," he said, pointing to a button on the wall. "BB8 made sure it was connected to Lieutenant Connix, she'll be able to help you. And if I'm not back she'll be down when it's time to eat, to make sure you don't get lost."

"You're leaving?" she asked.

"We found something we've been after for a while, and we can't risk it getting into the First Order's hands. It should just be a drop and grab, I'll be back before dinner."

"Oh, okay," she nodded.

"Don't worry, Hermione," he smiled, rubbing her shoulder. "You're with friends. It's new, and I imagine it's scary, but when I get back we can talk about everything."

"I'd like that," she smiled.

"Good, I'll see you in a little bit," he beamed.

BB8 beeped a few times.

"Watch it," he warned with a smirk. "Run ahead and get the ship ready, and I'll forget you said that."

The droid beeped a few more times before rolling off.

"You understand him?" Hermione asked in awe.

"You'll get used to it," he replied. "You don't want Threepio being the only droid you can talk to, he'll give you a complex."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Take care of yourself, Hermione," he smiled, backing out of the room.

"You, too," she replied. "Good luck."

"Thanks," he shot her a wink before hurrying off.

Hermione pressed a button to close the door, and turned over the journal a few times in her hands before sitting on the bed and opening it. She thumbed through the pages, skimming the pages to get the feel of what she might be reading, seeing certain names like 'Han', 'Luke', and 'Darth Vader' repeated many times. Near the back she came across something odd, a section where several of the pages had been torn out, as if there was something that Leia didn't want Hermione to read about. She ran her finger down the torn edges that betrayed the presence of the missing pages as she contemplated what Leia might be hiding when she jolted upright, suddenly aware of a presence that manifested as a voice in the back of her head.

 _There you are, child._


	2. II

_There you are, child._ There was a delight to the cold, calculated voice that sent ice through Hermione's veins.

"Who are you?" she asked the empty room, eyes darting around as if the unknown voice might be coming from the walls, but she knew it was in her head. "Kylo Ren?"

 _Ah, you have heard of my apprentice,_ the voice said. _I was so… disappointed when he failed to retrieve you._

Hermione realized why the voice was so threatening. If she could feel how dark Kylo Ren was from just being in his proximity how much worse was his master?

 _You are hiding where you are, child. Tell me, and I will send my apprentice to fetch you. There is much we can discuss._

"Absolutely not interested," she replied, trying to keep fear from her voice.

 _You are wasted where you are._

"I've been here all of two hours. I can't see how I could have been used by now."

 _You are strong,_ the voice said, the last word coming out in almost a growl. _No one where you are can teach you to harness that strength, to use it, to reach out with it…_

"I've had enough training, thank you."

There was a menacing chuckle she could feel in the base of her skull. _You will find me, child. There is no place for you where you are, and you have too many questions you need answered. You need a place, and purpose, and I offer you one._

"Why do you keep saying 'where you are'? Is it because you don't know?" she mused aloud. "Well, I have no intentions of telling you. Hopefully this is the last I hear from you," she added, then she put up her occlumency barriers. For several minutes the only sound was that of her own labored breathing, the voice seemed to be gone. She jumped as the door slid open, and turned to find Leia looking at her.

"Is everything alright?" the older woman asked.

"Yes. Fine," Hermione lied.

Leia looked at her with an expression that clearly showed she did not believe her. Hermione debated telling her about the voice, but something was holding her back, a nagging feeling that if she did tell Leia about the voice something bad might happen.

"Dinner is served," she said, stepping to one side and motioning Hermione forward.

"Right. Thanks," she said, pushing herself to standing on shaking legs, then followed her silently to a large mess hall. Hermione moved through a small queue waiting to choose food, and, to her dismay, realized that nothing in front of her looked even remotely familiar. She took her cues from Leia, taking a little of each thing she took, but only took quarter portions. With the bounty of food in front of them she realized how much the war had affected her eating habits, and now that there was enough she wasn't sure her body would handle it. She tried to ignore the stares that followed her as she walked through the hall to a vacant table where she sat across from Leia, her back to the majority of the people in the room.

"Are you sure everything is okay?" Leia tried again as Hermione started poking at her food.

"Besides the general feeling of being a bit overwhelmed," she nodded.

"I'm sure it will get easier with time," she replied with a conflicted smile.

"Any news from Poe?" she asked.

A look of pain and concern crossed Leia's face that Hermione couldn't miss.

"What's wrong?" Hermione whispered.

"The village I sent him to…" she started hesitantly, then sighed and composed herself. "Someone sent out a distress signal. By the time we got there they had been slaughtered. Poe's ship was found, but no sign of him."

Hermione's heart sunk.

"It's good we haven't found him," Leia tried to sound comforting. "If anyone can get out of a tight situation it's that man."

"There's still a village full of dead people," she murdered.

"That's what Ky… what the First Order does. You are given one chance to cooperate, and if you choose not to take it…" she trailed off.

Hermione lost any trace amount of appetite she had, and pushed some food around with her fork.

"Can I ask what you're thinking?" Leia asked after a few quiet minutes.

"I've dealt with a group like that before. I'm starting to see why I was sent here," she said quietly. Needing to get away to think she stood, followed a woman who was bussing her tray to put hers away, then walked through the hallways until she came across a large hangar filled with different types of spacecraft. No one paid her much mind as she moved towards the open air. Darting past ships being repaired and ready to fight she climbed a hill, and felt relief as she found nothing on the far side. She walked down far enough that she couldn't be seen from the base and she laid down, trying to calm herself.

At some point she drifted off, waking when a craft passed low over her. It was starting to get dark, so she decided to head back inside. As she walked back over the hill her heart jumped.

"Poe!" she called.

The pilot turned around, smiling at her as she rushed towards him, but as she got close she pulled up short, a loud gasp escaping her lips. It was obvious he was hurt, a wound opened on his head and his arm in a makeshift sling. "What happened?" she asked, starting to size up his wounds.

"Got caught," he replied with a shrug, the motion causing him to wince. "Got interrogated by Kylo Ren. It didn't go well. I managed to escape, a Stormtrooper helped me. But we crashed on Jakku. I don't think he made it," he sighed. "I walked until I found an outpost, found an unattended ship I didn't think would be missed, and here I am."

"Can I fix it?" she asked.

"You can fix it?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Magic," she said with a smile.

"You can give it a shot," he nodded.

She drew her wand, and pointed it at his arm. Concentrating she tapped it three times, and there was a sharp snapping sound. Poe hissed in pain, but a second later relief flooded his features. He pulled the sling off and moved his arm, flexing his fingers a few times.

"This is… this is unbelievable!" he beamed. "You fixed it!"

"It's really nothing. I learned how to mend bones a while back, I thought it might be useful."

"Sure has been," he nodded. "Thank you!"

"Let me get that head wound," she said, waving her wand at it a few times, first mending the injury, then cleaning the blood.

"You are phenomenal," he chuckled, touching the spot. "Too good to be true."

"It's nothing," she shook her head.

"You patched me up in about ten seconds. That's not nothing. That is astounding," he said, reaching out to lift her chin up. "Thank you."

She bit her lip and fought a blush. "I have something in my quarters that could get rid of the scar if you'd like," she muttered.

"Nah," he shook his head. "Scars don't bother me. They tell a story. And I've got to talk to Leia, I shouldn't have even stopped," he said, turning and starting to walk inside. After a few steps he motioned for her to follow and, after a moment's hesitation she followed. She had to jog to keep up with Poe's quick pace, and when he came upon Leia he didn't bother waiting for her to stop talking.

"BB8 has it, it's on Jakku but I don't know where," he said.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"I got caught, and was subjected to Kylo Ren's hospitality. I escaped with the help of a Stormtrooper of all people, but we crashed. I think he's dead. I didn't even know where to start looking and hopped the first ride I could get out here."

"Are you saying you want to go back?" she asked.

"I would need a team," he said. "There's a lot of ground to cover and it's not like the likes of Unkar Plutt are going to be very forthcoming if they have him."

"Take six of your choice, and try..."

"General Organa!" a breathless woman came running up to them. "Someone's seen the droid. It's on Takodana."

"Does the First Order know this?"

"We believe so. They've deployed Ren's ship as well as others."

"Change of plans," she said, turning back to Poe. "Get in the air."

"Yes, ma'am," Poe called over his shoulder, already running off.

Leia sized up Hermione for a moment. "Come with me," she said. "I'm going to Takodana myself, I'd like you to come with."

"Are you sure that's wise?" Hermione said, starting to follow her down a hallway.

"There's someone there who I'd like you to meet."

Reluctantly Hermione followed her out towards a transport, but the sounds of shock and terror started coming behind her. She tensed, then turned, eyes moving upwards to where several people were pointing. A streak of red was crossing the sky, and when she looked around to see if anyone was going to offer an explanation, but she only saw silent fear written on the faces around her. The pounding of her own heart was the only sound as she turned back to the sky, watching in horror as the beam split into five and found it's targets in distant, almost imperceptible explosions.

"What was that?" she asked to no one in particular.

"Starkiller," Poe replied behind her, causing her to jump before she turned to him.

"Did it just do what I thought it did?" she asked, her voice shaky, afraid of the answer.

He nodded once before confirming, "They just destroyed five planets."

XXXXXXX

Hermione was completely unprepared for the scene that greeted her as the door to the transport opened. Her eyes went wide as she surveyed the ruins littered with bodies, and she felt her legs start to go weak.

"Are you okay?" Leia asked.

"I shouldn't be here," Hermione said, backing up against the wall and sliding down to huddle against it. Images swam in her vision, flashes of lights of spells, giants and acromantula descending on helpless victims, people in black robes and silver masks cackling with joy at the destruction they were causing. She could smell the smoke and burning flesh, and could hear the screams and cries of the injured and dying. She screwed her eyes shut and curled into the tightest ball she could, trying to focus on anything to drive the visions from her head, but instead a voice sounded over the memories.

 _You do not need to let these memories have power over you, child._

 _Not now, not now, not now,_ Hermione chanted in her mind.

 _I can teach you to let go. To take their power away. To get rid of your past so you can have a powerful future._

 _Leave me alone!_

 _You cannot deny me forever, girl,_ the voice snarled. _You will be wasted there, and you will come find me..._

"Be quiet! Be quiet!" she begged.

There was a strange noise, and she looked up, then immediately recoiled in fear as she found herself looking at a tall, fur covered creature holding a crossbow.

"Chewie, leave the poor girl alone," a sharp voice said behind the creature, and it turned to show an older man in a leather jacket wearing a crooked but kind smile.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yes," she replied softly.

"I'm Han," he said, holding his hand out, but just far enough she had to move to shake it.

"Hermione," she said, shakily getting to her feet and shaking his hand. "Are you the person Leia wanted me to meet?"

A strange smile crossed his face. "No, I don't think she knew I was going to be here. Maz, on the other hand..."

"You called?" Maz appeared in the door.

"Can't slip anything past you, can I?" he smirked at her.

"Why would you want to?" she asked with a conspiratorial grin. "Chewie! Don't think you're getting out of here that easily!"

The Wookie turned around, making a soft noise, then opened his arms and moved forward and bent low to hug Maz.

"You wait for me outside," she ordered, and Chewie and Han walked out.

"So, you are the girl who caused that disturbance in the Force," Maz said slowly, motioning for Hermione to take a seat. Maz moved in front of her, studying her face for a long moment. "I see what Leia says about you," she mused softly.

"What?" Hermione asked.

"Those who are strong with the Force generally align more with the light or the dark, but there are those in the middle, those who acknowledge that there are strengths to both sides. Still, others who are sensitive to the Force can feel those who do fall somewhere in the middle of the spectrum, feel the fight between dark and light in them. You are different, child," she said kindly, taking her hands. "I can feel your power, it sits with you, taller than that statue that I used to have outside. But for all that power I cannot tell how you align."

"I'm good," Hermione protested. "I mean, I've used dark magic before, but it was only to help fight the dark witches and wizards..."

"I know," she said kindly. "I can see it in your eyes, written on your face. But the feeling around you, your presence, it is a mystery. You are an anomaly, child..."

"But..." she started to interrupt.

"I did not say that was a bad thing," she replied firmly. "It means your path is not written yet, your destiny is still open for you to decide where you wish to go."

"But I'm only here to help fight the darkness," she protested. "I was given a choice, help those fighting the darkness, or move on."

"Did this choice direct you on _how_ you should fight the darkness?" she asked.

Hermione shook her head.

"Then the decision is still yours, child," Maz smiled. "And it may not be the most obvious path."

She looked around and saw Leia entering the transport.

"We have to get back to the base," she said grimly. "We have intel they're going to use their weapon again."

"Choose wisely, child," Maz said softly before leaving. Hermione took a seat, strapping herself in as she felt Leia's eyes on her.


	3. III

Hermione hovered on the fringe as the group talked about how to best take down Starkiller. Most of what they were saying went over her head, technical information that she didn't know, and as she couldn't fly anything she wasn't sure what she could do other than stay on the base and hope for the best. That is, until Han started talking about going onto the planet's surface to disable the shields.

"I want to help," she announced, and the group quieted down, turning to look at her. "I can't get us to the surface, but once we're there I can get us in anywhere we need to go," she continued.

Han raised an eyebrow. "Anywhere?"

"Yes," she replied confidently. "If we need one of them to disable the shields I can persuade them without any delay. It sounds like seconds matter, I can save seconds."

"You're with me," he nodded, motioning for her to follow. She trotted after him as he took long strides through the base, coming out and making a beeline for an old looking ship. As he opened the hatch the tall, hair-covered creature came up carrying a large box, with several bags slung over its arms. Hermione involuntarily backed up as it dropped the box with a loud thud.

"Never seen a Wookie before?" Han asked as he started going through one of the bags.

"Never seen a lot of things around here before," she replied timidly, shaking her head.

"Hermione, Chewie. Chewie, Hermione."

Chewie made a noise that sounded friendly and gave what looked like a smile.

"Nice to meet you, Chewie," she smiled back. "What can I do to help?"

"Pack some of these, in these," Han said, opening the box and handing her a bag.

"Bombs?" she asked.

"It never hurts to have a backup plan," he replied with a crooked smile.

Hermione started packing the bombs carefully, and a moment later Han stood up next to her and started talking softly to Leia. By the way they looked at each other, approached each other, Hermione knew they had a relationship at some point that soured, but she busied herself as to not interfere with what they were saying. She finished packing the bag and followed Chewie onto the ship, stowing the bag as a man came jogging onto the ship.

"Hello, there," he said, and Hermione turned to see a dark skinned man wearing what she recognized as Poe's jacket.

"Hullo," she replied with a quick smile.

"We haven't had the chance to meet," he said, approaching her.

"Hermione," she introduced, holding out her hand and shaking his.

"Finn," he replied.

"Pleasure to meet you," she nodded. "I've heard a bit about you. You're the, um..."

"Stormtrooper who escaped," he filled in for her.

"Okay," she nodded, rummaging through her bag aimlessly, trying not to betray the fact that she had little knowledge of Stormtroopers other than the bodies she had seen outside the transport when they landed on Takodana.

"Ready to go?" Han asked as he entered, not stopping as he walked through the ship to the pilot's chair. Hermione sat down at a table, carefully maneuvering herself so she couldn't see out any window, silently praying that the old ship didn't fall apart when it went to light speed. She rummaged in her bag just for something to do, and pulled out a picture. It was of a Christmas she had spent at the Burrow. She, Ron, and Harry were seated around the fire, clutching mugs of cocoa. Fred and George sat nearby, and something they said caused Harry to snort his drink, leading them all to laugh. Hermione ran her fingers over Fred, alive now only in the photos she had of him, and realized she now had just as much hope of seeing Harry and Ron again as she did seeing Fred. A tear threatened to fall, but a sudden jostle stopped it as she looked up in surprise before being hurled to the side onto the floor. She could hear shouting from the cockpit as the craft crashed along Starkiller's surface, and she scrambled to pull her wand from her pocket, then pointed it to the floor.

" _Arresto momentum!_ " she shouted, and she was thrown forward as the ship came to an abrupt halt. Rolling a few times she came to rest against the door of the cockpit, where Han, Finn, and Chewie were pushing themselves up from the console, each making soft noises of pain.

"Did you do that?" Han asked as Hermione carefully got to her feet.

"Yes," she said, rolling her shoulder and trying not to wince.

"How about you don't in the future," he snapped, stepping around her and heading for the exit. Hermione waited for Chewie and Finn to leave before picking up her bag of bombs and following. When she exited the ship she saw they were perched precariously over the face of a cliff.

"You're welcome," she muttered cheekily, and Chewie, who seemed to be the only one who heard her, turned and gave her a half smile.

They followed Finn through the snow as Han looked around skeptically.

"What was your job when you were based here?" he asked.

"Sanitation," Finn replied.

"Sanitation?" he sounded confused. "Then how do you know how to disable the shields?"

"I don't," Finn admitted. "I'm just here to get Rey."

Han turned him and pushed him against a small building. "People are counting on us! The galaxy is counting on us!" he snapped.

"Solo, we'll figure it out," Finn replied, looking desperate. "We'll use the Force!"

Chewie let off an annoyed sound as Han looked incredulous. "That's not how the Force works!" he snapped.

"That is how magic works," Hermione interrupted, and the three turned to look at her. "Do you know who _does_ know how to disable the shields?" she asked Finn.

Finn nodded vigorously.

"Point them out to me, and I can get those shields down," she replied.

"Are you sure?" Han asked.

"Mostly," she admitted. "But it's a better plan than you lot have got."

She followed them in through an access door. The inside was in stark contrast to the exterior, everything was clean, gleaming even. They moved as silently as possible, ducking to avoid groups of Stormtroopers. Han moved as though he had done it many times before, but Finn needed to be pulled out of the way a few times. The further in they moved the more uncomfortable and upset Finn looked, until they rounded a corner and ducked back to avoid another group of Stormtroopers, this time taking orders from a chrome-clad Trooper.

"Captain Phasma," Finn hissed. "She'll know how to disable the shields."

Hermione nodded, then crouched low and pulled out a mirror. She used it to peer around the corner watching as the Troopers went one way, and Phasma started towards them. She pushed the group into a small alcove, and as soon as Phasma rounded the corner she waved her wand, casting an _Imperio_ charm. Phasma immediately stopped in her tracks and stood, unmoving, in front of them.

"Did it work?" Finn asked.

"Yes," Hermione replied, feeling the control over the armor-clad woman running through her.

"Got you," he smiled, looking triumphant. "Did you hear that, chrome-dome? You're ours. You do what _I_ say now, not the other way around! How do you like..."

"Enough," Han said sharply. "We have to get moving."

Hermione flicked her wrist, wordlessly telling Phasma to go disable the shield. Immediately Phasma started walking forward, nearly knocking Finn down. They followed her down a corridor, Han and Finn holding up blasters in case they ran into any Stormtroopers, but luckily the way was clear. Phasma entered a room and crossed to a control panel. A few moments later the screen showed the shields going down.

"Did it work?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, yeah, it did," Finn said, looking at the screen. "So, what do you we with her?"

"Is there a garbage chute... or a trash compactor?" Han asked.

"Yeah, there is," he looked gleefully at Phasma.

"Wait!" Hermione snapped. "She's important, right? They're going to notice if she goes missing and start a search. The last thing we need is more of those Stormtroopers swarming the area."

"So, we, what, just let her go?"

"Best she go about her business... after I make sure she doesn't remember the last few minutes," she added, casting an _Obliviate_ and sending Phasma away.

"We've only got part one done," Han said, following Phasma out and heading in the opposite direction.

"Listen, Solo," Finn said, jogging up next to him. "I am only here for Rey. That's the whole reason I came here. I know you've got your thing that you want to do, but I'm not going anywhere else... what are you doing? Why are you doing...?" he asked, mimicking the nodding gesture Han was making. Han sighed in annoyance and pointed at a woman climbing across the way.

"Rey! We've got to get over there!" he said, starting to jog off. Hermione went to follow him when Han caught her arm.

"We've got a job we have to finish," he said, and Hermione immediately started to follow him. They hurried through a few corridors, and as they came towards the oscillator Han reached into one of the bags and pulled out a bomb.

"We need to place them about every twenty feet," he said, then he pressed a couple buttons on the side. "Armed," he explained shortly. "My friend has the controller. Once they stop blinking you've got about twenty seconds. Place them and get out, we'll meet back at the Falcon. Got it?"

"Yes, sir," she nodded.

"You go that way," he said, pointing down to a level below them and to the right. "Move fast, and don't get caught because I'm not waiting once this thing blows."

She nodded, reaching into her bag as she hurried to the left and down a nearby ladder. She carefully placed the first few, getting the feel of it, but by the fifth bomb it was practically muscle memory. She placed the bombs on what looked like the most supportive structures she could find and, barring that, electronics. She came to a corridor to one side, and saw some control panels part of the way down, so she started that way. About halfway there she felt it, a twinge of something dark and powerful, and she instinctively threw herself into an alcove behind some pipes, tapping her head with a wand to cast a disillusionment charm. She had no more felt the warmth of the spell reach her feet than some Stormtroopers came into view, marching past her. Seconds later someone else came into view, a man clad completely in black, wearing a menacing looking mask. She sucked in a breath and held it, knowing instinctively that this was the Kylo Ren everyone had been talking about. To her horror he stopped in front of her, pausing long enough for the Stormtroopers to march along. He turned towards her, looking at her as if he could see her. She couldn't draw a breath, and she tried to will her heart to stop pounding so loudly. Slowly the man's hand came up, stopping at about face height, and he moved forward, fingers getting closer to her as she pressed herself into unyielding metal behind her and prayed for a miracle. A moment later the figure withdrew his hand, stalking off as another set of Stormtroopers came around the corner. She let off a shaky breath, waiting for them to pass before emerging but not taking the Disillusionment charm off herself. She placed a few more bombs before they suddenly stopped blinking, and she threw the rest as far as she could before Apparating outside. Looking around she saw ships flying above her, shooting back and forth at each other. The ground shook as the bombs went off, and she ducked, covering her head as debris flew around. When she was sure it was safe she turned and started running, but stopped a moment later. In the back of her mind she heard a voice saying that once the oscillator was destroyed the whole planet would be destabilized, but the ground seemed just as solid as ever, which meant they had failed to destroy the thing with their bombs. The X-wings were making passes at the thing when they could get close to it, but it still wasn't enough. Swearing she ran back towards it, casting spells trying to take the thing down, but it didn't seem to be helping much, when suddenly she heard a ship sounding way too close, and turned just in time to see an X-wing disappear into the opening left by the bombs. Seconds later the ground started shaking again, and she Apparated to the edge of some nearby woods just in time to see the oscillator blow up, the X-wing barely outrunning the blast. The whole planet started to shake, and she wrapped her arms around a tree to keep herself on her feet.

"Point me," she commanded to her wand, and it turned once and pointed deeper into the woods, back to the Falcon. She cast a finite on herself as she ran so they would see her coming. The rumbles of the planet made her trip several times, and once she had to backtrack and find a way around a chasm that opened up in front of her. Every so often she stopped to perform the spell again, convinced that the imploding planet was getting her off course, but for some reason her wand would waver between two points. Frustrated she picked the direction she felt she was going the first time, and ran in that direction. Coming over a hill she stopped dead. There was a body in front of her, sprawled on his back, blood splattered on the snow around him. Taking a few steps forward she recognized the robes Kylo Ren was wearing, and she sucked in a breath. She approached him as she might approach a seemingly dead dragon, ready to bolt at the first sign of life. As she approached she realized she felt him, knew he was still there, felt the aura of darkness that surrounded him though now it was diminished, something that was barely there as his body clung to life. She stood over him, even looked around in hopes that someone would appear and tell her what to do, but she knew she was alone on the dying planet, and that waiting too long would mean both their ends.

Her hand plunged into her bag, and at the mere thought of the potion she felt it fly into her hand. The Draught of Living Death. Harry had once said it was an odd choice to bring along on their quest, but Hermione had brought it with only in the event of their capture. A way to keep from talking, a way to avoid the pain that would come with the torture their capture would bring, the magical version of a cyanide pill. Death would not be instantaneous, the potion took three days before the 'Living Death' became merely 'Death', but it would keep them from feeling pain during that time. One time being tortured by Bellatrix had taught her that death was much preferable to being back in the insane witch's clutches, and she carried the potion to make sure it never happened again.

Kylo's head was tipped back, his mouth open, so Hermione carefully poured three drops down his throat. Then she quickly stashed the bottle, stood, and conjured a stretcher. The planet gave another lurch, and she knew she had to act quickly. She levitated Kylo's body onto the stretcher, and secured it in place. Not too far away, on the other side on another chasm she saw lights, and heard what sounded like Chewbacca. She grabbed hold of one corner of the stretcher and, taking a deep breath, chanced Apparation to the other side, relief flooding over her when she was successful. Then she turned towards the lights and ran, the stretcher floating in front of her.

"Wait!" she called as she saw Chewbacca and they girl Finn had called Rey entering the Falcon in front of her. Chewbacca looked back but didn't slow, disappearing into the belly of the ship, but Rey stood by the hatch. As Hermione entered a look of horror came over Rey's face, and she looked up into Hermione's eyes. For a moment something dark flashed deep in Rey's features, and Hermione instinctively moved her wand to a defensive position.

"What have you done?" Rey whispered.


	4. IV

"Why did you bring Kylo Ren on this ship?" Rey asked loudly, though she hit the button to close the hatch.

"I've taken him prisoner," Hermione replied, conjuring a mat and carefully lowering the stretcher containing Kylo's body onto it.

"No!" she shouted, and they could hear Chewbacca growl in protest. "He just killed Han Solo!"

Hermione felt a pang of sadness at the news, but shook her head. "If we leave him here, we're giving him back to the First Order," she snapped, digging into her bag and starting to pull out potions. "What kind of wound is on his back?" she nodded towards Finn.

"A, um, it's from a lightsaber," she stammered, turning Finn onto his side so Hermione could see.

"I guess that counts as a burn, then," she said, shuffling through the potions and tossing her a small vat of thick paste. "Rub this on carefully, and not too much," she said. "And as for him," she nodded down to Kylo, "if he can be patched up, don't think the First Order won't. And then he's back to everything he's been doing. We take him prisoner, and that's one less pawn they have in their game."

Rey shot her a look. The Falcon lurched to one side as the ground under it started to give away.

"Go!" Hermione and Rey shouted at Chewbacca in unison, and a moment later the ship shot forward.

"Do you have any bandages?" Rey asked.

"Blue box," Hermione replied, carefully peeling up Kylo's tunic, exposing the wound on his side. She and Rey both made soft sounds of disgust as it, as well as some of his innards, were exposed.

"That does not look good," Rey mumbled.

"No, but I can fix it, or at least start fixing it," Hermione replied. She picked up a phial and placed it next to her before drawing her wand and running it over the wound. Slowly the innards made their way back into Kylo's body. Hermione then took the stopper out and dripped a few careful drops of potion on his side. Thin, pink, scarred skin started to grow over the wound until, a minute later, it was completely covered, though fragile looking.

"Are you done with that?" Hermione asked, nodding to the blue box.

"Oh, right," Rey shook her head, and she pulled out a bandage before handing the box to Hermione. Hermione carefully dressed the wound, using magic to keep the bandage in place.

From the front of the ship Chewbacca made a noise, and Hermione looked up at Rey.

"We're about to jump to lightspeed," Rey informed her.

"How do you know…? Nevermind," Hermione shook her head and smiled. "Maybe when I'm here long enough I'll figure out what all the beeps and whirs and whatever noises he's making mean."

Rey smiled. "You get used to it. Eventually."

"I certainly have gotten used to all the space travel," she replied. "Can you pass that vat, please?"

Rey tossed it to her. "You should let him keep that scar," she said bitterly as Hermione moved to sit by Kylo's head.

Hermione raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything as she opened the vat and got a little on her fingers. Carefully she touched the paste to his wound, but paused as suddenly she saw something that wasn't there. She was standing in a room, it was vague but somehow familiar. Kylo was standing next to her, but there was nothing menacing in his face as he looked down at her, instead there was a hint of a smile playing on his lips. He reached out to her, capturing her hand with his, but there was no malice in his movements. Instead he interlaced his fingers with hers, and gave them a reassuring squeeze. Suddenly someone else appeared next to her, and to her surprise she looked over at the smiling face of Mrs. Weasley.

"Everything alright?" Rey asked.

The vision was gone as quickly as it appeared, and Hermione shook her head once to clear any residual traces. "Yes," she muttered, and she continued to dab paste on Kylo's wound.

Rey looked at her suspiciously, but didn't say anything.

Hermione finished applying paste to Kylo's wound, and she conjured up a couple blankets. She tossed one to Rey, who put it over Finn, and Hermione tucked the second over Kylo, taking a moment to study him. He wasn't nearly as intimidating lying on the floor of the Falcon as he had been stalking around Starkiller, but there was still a dark aura she could feel around him. Still, it wasn't the same as when she was around Bellatrix or Voldemort, there was… conflict also. A struggle, but what she felt around him was not a struggle against the darkness, but rather a struggle against the light. When she focused her thoughts on Rey she found much of the same struggle, but the opposite, a struggle against the darkness the young girl felt deep inside. Hermione vaguely wondered if anyone could sense her aura the way she was sensing Kylo's and Rey's.

There was a slight shake as the ship came out of light speed, and Hermione busied herself conjuring up another stretcher. She and Rey carefully maneuvered Finn onto it, Rey letting off a soft noise of concern as Finn let off a groan of pain as they moved him. Hermione decided against asking for help moving Kylo, instead lifting him by magic and moving him closer to the hatch. Another bump signaled their landing, and Rey was already moving, opening the door and shouting for help. A group of medics arrived, and they entered the Falcon carrying bags and equipment. The first few swarmed around Finn, starting to work on him as Rey hovered nearby. The next few medics turned towards Hermione, but stopped short.

"Is that…?" one asked.

"I gave him a potion," Hermione replied. "He's not going to wake up anytime soon."

They looked at each other then came forward and started attaching equipment to Kylo. Hermione retreated as more medics started picking up the stretchers and maneuvering them out of the Falcon. Hermione stayed behind, gathering her things, sharing an extended glance with Chewbacca as the Wookie left. After carefully repacking her potions she slung her bag over her shoulder, tucked her wand in her pocket, and walked out of the Falcon.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Poe nearly shouted as he and Leia converged on her.

"I took Kylo Ren out of commission," Hermione snapped. "Generally people consider taking major players prisoner a good thing."

"We have no facilities that can hold him," Leia said with a silencing glance at Poe. "You brought him here and we have no way of containing him properly when he wakes up."

" _If_ he wakes up," Hermione said, earning her a look from both Poe and Leia. "I gave him a dose of the Draught of Living Death. The thing about that potion is that if you don't give the antidote it becomes the Draught of Actual Death within three days."

Leia's eyes went wide for a moment, but she didn't say anything.

"We could just… not give the antidote," she continued carefully.

Poe looked contemplative but Leia looked taken aback.

"This potion is something you just carry with you?" the older woman asked.

Hermione looked into her eyes and swallowed hard. "Yes," she replied quietly. "Because I figured it was a more pleasant way to die than getting hit with the torture curse again," she continued, rubbing her left arm, and she saw both Poe and Leia's eyes flick to the 'mudblood' scars on her arm. "If we just don't give him the antidote he'll never know what's going on, and he'll be gone in three days."

Poe looked at Leia. "It might not be a bad idea," he said softly.

Leia looked from Poe to Hermione, then sighed. "We just blew up Starkiller base. It'll take them a little while to regroup survivors and get things back operational, and not much longer after that they're going to figure out we're here. If Snoke wants him back they'll be here first thing, and I'm not sure if we've got three days. I've already given the order to pack the essentials for a quick exit if necessary."

"Then make it quick," Hermione said softly.

Leia turned to her, eyebrow raised.

"You have weapons, you could do it quickly. Won't be as neat as just letting him go, but it'll do the job. And because of the potion he won't feel a thing."

Leia narrowed her eyes, then turned to Poe. "Commander Dameron, I want you to go prepare a transport. You will be escorting Hermione and Kylo Ren to a planet on the Outer Rim, somewhere where she can hold him without danger to others."

"What?" Poe asked in surprise.

"Excuse me?" Hermione nearly shouted at the same time.

"You told me you were able to elude capture during you time on the run, even from other people like you. If you are able to keep powerful people out, I'm sure you'll be able to keep someone powerful in. I am assigning you to the post of his warden, and you are to keep him secure until such a time that we can find a facility to keep him in."

Hermione and Poe exchanged a dumbfounded look.

"You have your orders, Commander Dameron," Leia looked at him sharply.

Poe looked sympathetically at Hermione one more time, then turned and hurried off.

"No," Hermione said, shaking her head.

"That was an order, Granger."

"I am not part of any army," she shot back. "You can't order me around. Do you think I'm just going to run off to the middle of nowhere to watch over some psychopathic murderer…"

"He's my son," Leia admitted softly.

Hermione's eyes widened.

"You're talking about killing my son," she continued, eyes pleading now.

"I… I didn't know. I'm sorry," she stammered. "But I don't know if I can do this."

"There's no one else who can," she replied.

Hermione took a deep breath, then nodded. "I'll do my best, but I can't make promises."

"Hermione, I lost my son a long time ago. To Snoke. To the Dark Side. But I've always held out a little bit of hope, that the light in him would eventually win out. I know what he did today. I am not an unrealistic woman. I know there's little hope. But as his mother, as long as there's a little hope, I will hold onto that."

Hermione bit her lip and wrapped her arms around herself. "I can't promise that anything will change. I can't promise that I'll keep him safe. I can't even promise I'll keep him away from the First Order. But I can try."

"That's all I can ask," she said with a faint smile.

XXXXXXX

"Are you completely sure about this?" Poe asked, sliding from the pilot's seat and coming towards her.

"No," Hermione replied, gathering up her things. "But I said I would try. Where are we?"

"Hinari," he said, looking out the window. "No one has been here since Wedge Antilles made the rounds trying to find Imperial soldiers in hiding. From what he said the weather is a bit rough, really cold at night and hot during the day. Sorry, it's the best I could think of if we're trying to keep the two of you hidden and off the grid."

"I'm from London, I'm used to odd weather," she smiled. "Shall we?"

Poe opened the door, and a rush of warm air entered the craft. She waved her wand at the still-unconscious form of Kylo, levitating the stretcher he was on and moving it in front of her down the ramp. As they exited she surveyed the area. They had landed in a clearing, surrounded by trees covered in vivid red leaves. The air was moist, heavy, and thick with the scent of earth.

"Well, it seems as good a place as any," she murmured, looking around.

"You mentioned you have a shelter?" he asked.

"I do," she said, putting her bag down and reaching down far into it, until she found the tent and pulled it out. She laid it carefully on the ground in the center of the clearing before backing up and waving her wand at it, causing it to erect itself.

"That's it?" Poe asked. "That doesn't look like nearly enough room to keep safe from..." he ended with a nod over his shoulder at Kylo's form.

"Looks can be deceiving," she smiled, ducking into the tent. Poe followed her, stopping dead just inside the flap.

"Wow," he breathed, looking around the four room structure inside. The middle was the main room, with a cozy sitting area around a fireplace, a basic kitchen, and a table to eat at. To either side were bedrooms just large enough for the beds inside, a single to one side and bunks on the other. In the back was a bathroom complete with a bathtub. "This is great."

"Thanks," she smiled, waving her wand at Kylo's stretcher, bringing it inside. She carefully maneuvered it into the bedroom that was supposed to be Harry and Ron's and lowered him onto the lower bunk.

"Are you going to be able to keep yourself safe? I can't imagine he's going to be in a good mood when he wakes up," Poe muttered, looking at the bunk nervously.

"I have that covered," Hermione replied, walking through the tent, drawing a line from one side of Kylo's room, through the middle of the table, and ending at the bathroom. She traced the line several times while muttering spells under her breath. Poe watched in amazement, then shifted awkwardly on his feet.

"She doesn't trust you, you know," he said suddenly. "Leia, I mean. She doesn't trust you."

Hermione paused, then finished her final lap before coming to the table and sitting. "I think I knew," she said softly.

"That's why she sent you here, rather than sending you with Rey to find Luke. I mean, she was right that we had nowhere we could hold _him_ , but still, someone as powerful as you? It would be what's best for the Resistance to send you to someone who could help you learn about the Force, and maybe help you figure out how to meld it with your magic. You could be more powerful than all of them, I believe that. You could win this war for us. But she's sent you here, to babysit someone we'd be better off killing. This isn't for the benefit of the war, this is because she doesn't trust you. I heard her saying once that she can't tell if there's more light or dark in you, and it makes her nervous."

"I think it makes her nervous because I think she's seen something like that before. Different, though. She told me after I first met her that she saw neither darkness nor light in me, but I think what she saw before was an internal struggle between light and dark. And it didn't end well," she finished with a pointed glance at Kylo.

"Pretty sure if he had a struggle between light and dark it's gone one-sided by now," Poe shook his head.

"I think you'd be surprised," she looked at him.

"I would be. I'd be shocked if there were light left in that man," he muttered.

Hermione looked at him but decided not to argue. "Do you know if there's any animals around here I need to worry about?"

"I have BB8 out there scanning," he said. "Do you need a weapon?"

"I have my wand," she replied. "After you leave I'm going to put up some wards. Hopefully that'll keep anything unsavory out."

"Should we go get the other supplies?" he asked. She nodded, then followed him out to the craft. There were some boxes of basic survival supplies, canteens, warm clothes, blankets, pillows, firestarters, and cooking supplies. The other boxes were food, mostly canned, though there was one box of dehydrated meals. Hermione picked one of these up and studied it.

"I gave you those in case I can't come back for a while to deliver more. You just add a little water and it'll form in a few seconds. They taste like the packaging they're in, but they're enough to keep a person going. If I were you I'd give those to him and keep the other stuff for yourself."

"I'll keep that in mind," she smiled.

BB8 came rolling in, letting off a series of beeps.

"He says he didn't find anything you should worry about. There's a stream about a hundred yards that way," he pointed behind the transport. "Water looks clean."

"Thank you," she smiled at the droid, who beeped a few more times.

"I think he likes you," Poe said with a wide smile.

"Well, who couldn't like him?" she replied, patting BB8 on the head.

"There's one more thing before I go," he said, producing two small communicators and two bracelet-like items. "Use this to call me any time, day or night," he said, holding up a communicator before handing it to her. Then he held up one of the bracelets and said, "Bio tracker. If something bad does happen you get out and you hide, and this will help me find you."

Hermione took them and tapped them a few times with her wand, muttering spells, before handing Poe's back to his. "I just put a tracking spell on them. If you hold it and say 'find her' it'll link our two bracelets. You'll be able to find me, and I'll be able to Apparate to you when you're close enough."

"What's the range?"

"Theoretically it should lead us to each other from anywhere, but I have a three or four hundred mile limitation on Apparation. And only onto somewhere stationary, so no summoning me at light speed."

"I'll try to remember that," he smirked. "Are you sure you're up for this?"

"I think so," she nodded.

"Just... take care of yourself. If it gets the slightest bit dangerous do what you have to do. You make sure you get back to us... back to me."

"I promise," she nodded.

"Okay. Ward everything up after I leave, and don't wake him up until I'm well gone, okay?"

"Of course," she smiled. "Take care, Poe."

"Take care, Hermione," he reached up and placed a hand on her shoulder, then after a moment pulled her in for a hug. "I'll be back as soon as I can, so you're not stuck here with only him for company."

"I'm looking forward to it."

He and BB8 got into the transport, and Hermione watched as they raised into the sky, keeping her eyes on them until she saw the telltale streak of him going light speed. Taking a deep breath she put up wards around the tent, taking her time and making sure her wards were strong before going back into the tent. She reached into her bag, pulling out the mokeskin pouch and getting out the antidote. Buying herself a little more time to steal her nerves she also got out the paste and potions she used earlier, first attending to the wound on his side before daring to put more paste on his facial scar. Once again, when her skin made contact with his an image swam before her eyes. She couldn't make out a location, but Kylo was standing before her, reaching out towards her, and for a moment she thought his fingers would close around her throat, but instead they gently cupped her cheek. She shook her head to dismiss the vision then, deciding she had nothing else to do to stall, she cautiously coaxed his mouth open and dropped in a few drops of the antidote, scurrying away the moment she finished, crossing the magical barrier just as he started to stir.


	5. V

It took several minutes for Kylo to become fully conscious. Hermione stood in the kitchen, bouncing nervously on the balls of her feet, her bottom lip wedged firmly between her teeth, her wand held at the ready at her side. The moment he became aware of his surroundings he shot up out of bed, crouching defensively with his hand in front of him, scanning the room for threats. His eyes quickly landed on her, and they narrowed to slits.

"You," he said, his voice hoarse, and she could see his fingers start to curl as though they were wrapped around an invisible neck. She fought the urge to take another step away and remained still, though her fingers tightened around her wand in anticipation.

When whatever he was attempting to do seemed to fail he advanced on her, and her arm raised to point her wand at his chest, though she didn't cast a spell. After a few steps he was stopped in his tracks, unable to cross the invisible line she had drawn across the room.

"Good to know my wards held," she said, trying to keep the relief from her voice.

"Where are we?" he demanded.

"Somewhere in the Outer Rim," she replied, figuring that was vague enough to say.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I found you in the woods on Starkiller. You were out of it, I took you prisoner. General Organa felt it would be safest for everyone if I were to hold you away from everyone else and sent us here," she replied simply.

"Starkiller..." he muttered, his hand going to his side.

"I took care of that for you," she said softly, and he lifted his tunic enough to look at the scarred, raw skin that covered the bowcaster wound. "It still needs some help, but that skin should hold. I put some paste on your face to heal it, but I don't really have anything to get rid of the scar."

He touched the faint line on his face while he studied her. "Who are you?" he asked.

"Hermione Granger," she replied.

"A few days ago I felt you, like you just came into existence. Why?"

"Probably because I did," she replied. "I'm not from anywhere around here."

"How?" he demanded.

"I'll let you know as soon as I do," she snapped, hoping her tone would make it clear that she was not going to speak further on the subject. "Are you hungry? You're recovering from a very serious wound..."

"Why are you doing this?" he asked.

"Your mother asked me to, since the alternative was not letting you wake up."

"Did she mention I had just killed my father?" he asked.

She raised an eyebrow. "Your family drama is neither here, nor there to me. As of a few hours ago I am responsible for you. I may have helped things heal, but that doesn't mean that you are completely in the clear..."

"How did you heal me that quickly?" he interrupted.

She looked at him a long moment, but was sure he knew the answer. "Magic," she replied as nonchalantly as possible.

"Is that how you were able to hide from me in that corridor?"

"Yes. And how I'm hiding us from the rest of the galaxy at the moment."

He looked up as if he could see the dome of protection she had created around them. "Magical wards," he mused aloud.

"I used them a fair amount recently, to great success."

He stared at her a long moment, and she tried to stare back, but his piercing stare made her uncomfortable, so she turned around and opened a cupboard, pulling out a kettle. She felt his eyes on her as she filled it with water and put it on the stove. "Do you care for some tea?" she asked over her shoulder. "I don't have a lot from back home, but I would be a terrible Londoner if I hadn't traveled with some tea. I think I might even have some biscuits from home, too..." she dug in her bag and produced a box of PG tips and a tin of biscuits. She wordlessly got out two cups and plates, setting them on the table. Digging through the cupboard she found some sugar as well as some basic spices and tinned and boxed food, things that Bill must have taken the time to pack for her knowing there was a good chance she, Harry, and Ron would have to disappear again. She said a silent thanks to him as she got the sugar down, putting it on the table as she put a tea bag in each of the cups.

"I prefer my tea loose leaf," she muttered in an apologetic tone. "But when you're in the situation I was, well, bags are more portable."

The kettle began to whistle, and she picked it up, turned off the stove, and brought it to the table.

"Sit," she invited him as she poured, then sat herself. She pushed his cup through the wards to his side of the table, then selected a few biscuits for him and pushed them next to his cup, though he hadn't moved yet.

"I'm sorry I don't have any milk, that doesn't hold very well, but there is sugar if you'd like. Either way, it doesn't get much better cold."

Slowly he approached the table and sat, his eyes never leaving her. "You are quite strange, aren't you, Hermione Granger?"

"No, I'm actually quite normal from where I am from. I'm English, if we have no idea what we're supposed to do we make a good cuppa and try to figure it out."

"No idea what you're supposed to do?" he repeated, sounding skeptical.

"A few days ago I was involved in a war, a very different war," she said, stirring her tea. "Then I wind up here, and I've got people coming after me, trying to talk to me about the Force, and getting me involved in another war that I know nothing about other than _your_ side went and blew up five planets. Everyone wants me, but no one seems to know what to do with me, so I'm here, keeping at least one important card from the deck, so to speak."

"You don't have to stay here," he said quickly. "Come with me to Supreme Leader Snoke..."

"Supreme Leader Snoke?" she raised an eyebrow. "Is he the one who blew up those five planets?"

He glared at her.

"I'll take that as a yes, and my answer is 'no thank you' for it," she replied calmly.

"He could help you find your place in all this," he protested.

"I've had enough genocidal psychopaths for one lifetime, thank you."

"He's not..." he sputtered.

"Five planets," she snapped firmly. The two stared at each other for a long time, each unwilling to be the first to back down. Finally he shook his head and looked away, studying the rest of the tent. Hermione busied herself adding some sugar to her tea and taking a drink. She studied him as she did so, wondering just how the man before her had gotten to be so feared through the galaxy. He was a large, imposing presence, there was no denying that, and when he had been stalking about in his mask there was the fear that many masked boogeymen might bring, but there was something in his face that looked more troubled than menacing.

When the silence became too much she said, "Drink. As I said, going cold doesn't do much for it."

"Why do you care if I drink it?" he snapped.

"I guess it really isn't here nor there, but if you don't like it I won't bother making it for you anymore. I don't have an unlimited supply, I'd rather not waste it making drinks you won't touch."

"Then why bother giving me any at all?"

"Because I don't know how long we're stuck together, but it's at least for a while. I figure it would be best to be civil, but if you wish me to do nothing more than make sure you don't go anywhere I could do that as well. It's up to you."

He studied her for a moment, then carefully took a sip of the tea.

"It looks like my friend gave me a good selection of biscuits, so that one," she pointed to one of his biscuits, "is a custard cream, that one is a chocolate digestive, and the last is a Jammie Dodger. That last one is my mum's favorite. We always had them on hand. I told Bill about that one Christmas, I'm surprised he remembered."

"Why are you telling me this?" he asked.

"I thought a little small talk wouldn't hurt," she shrugged.

"Must you always be validated by those around you?"

She rolled her eyes and stood up, clearing her cup away, and taking it to the sink. As she rummaged for some soap she saw him take a careful bite of the Jammie Dodger, raise an eyebrow, then pop the rest into his mouth. She hid a smile as she turned away from him to wash her cup.

"What happened on Starkiller?" he asked.

"It's gone," she replied.

He glared at her as if he expected more.

"I don't know, to be honest," she shrugged. "I'm still learning the politics of it all, and things happened rather quickly getting us here. It was only a couple hours after I captured you that we departed to come here. I wasn't privy to a whole lot during that time, I was busy getting ready."

"But you did get involved. You were there, with Han Solo and the rebels."

"I saw what Starkiller did," she shot back. "I was very interested in making sure that never happened again. So I did what I could to help." After a moment she asked, "Why did you stop?"

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"You had me backed into a corner. You knew I was there. You even came within inches of touching me. But you stopped and walked away. Why?"

"I had more important matters to attend to," he shot back, looking at her as though his words should hurt her, but she just raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. He glared back at her for a long moment, then shifted in his seat, a wince of pain crossing his face. She debated the thought for a moment, then reached into her bag and pulled out a flask. She sat back at the table and reached across the table to pull his tea back to her side. She carefully put two drops into his tea, swirled it for a moment, then pushed it back to his side.

"What did you do?" he asked skeptically.

"Pain potion," she replied simply.

"I don't need..."

"Your intestines were hanging out not too long ago. Where I'm from you'd probably still be heavily medicated in a hospital. I assure you I don't give a damn about whatever facade you're putting on, if you're in pain you should drink."

He continued to look skeptical, so she rolled her eyes and tipped a drop of the potion into her mouth. As she was putting the flask away she saw him take a cautious sip. A few moments later a flash of relief crossed his face and he let off a long breath.

"How is it you can cross the wards?" he demanded.

"I put them up, I can design them how I want. I've had a lot of practice using wards recently, so I've become somewhat of an expert in finessing them to what I want."

"How many people know where we are?"

She debated telling him. On one hand should her wards fail he might think twice about doing something to her if he thought a group of people might come to retaliate, on the other if he knew how isolated they were he might hesitate knowing how unlikely it was that someone would come along to get him.

"One person and one droid," she replied.

He raised an eyebrow.

"We really are alone," she added as the realization came down on her, and she quickly left the tent as her breath threatened to fail her.


	6. VI

As the sun set outside the woods around the tent came to life with glowing bugs, which lazily flew to and fro through the trees in a variety of colors. Hermione smiled as she watched them, happy for something to give her a little distraction as she got her emotions in check and she came to terms with her situation. How her playing warden had anything to do with fighting the darkness was beyond her at the moment, but it was the situation and she would have to deal with it as best she could. Her stomach rumbled slightly, so she took a deep breath and went back into the tent. Kylo was still sitting at the table, studying his surroundings, eyes lingering on some of the more curious features, such as a sneakoscope on a shelf or a basic potioneering kit tucked under a chair. She smiled, realizing how much planning Bill must have put into the tent while preparing it for their next flight, and a pang of sadness that she realized that odds were against her ever being able to thank him for it.

Without a word she crossed to the box that Poe had given her filled with cans of food. She pulled a few out, but realized quickly that the words on the front meant nothing to her. There was some information he packed that would explain everything, but she didn't really have the time to do some reading, so she went back to the pantry to see what Bill had left for her. Everything was tinned or boxed, but there was enough for a few weeks if she were careful about portions and wasn't picky about eating the same foods repeatedly. She wasn't about to complain, it was much better than what she had been subsiding on while on the run, but she wasn't sure if her dining companion was used to such limited options, and he seemed the type to complain. She selected a box of pasta and a can of sauce, and felt his eyes on her as she got out two pots and used her wand to fill one with water.

"What is that?" he demanded as she stashed her wand back in her pocket and lit the stove.

"A stove," she replied, knowing it wasn't what he was asking, but smirking when she heard him let off a sound of frustration.

"Are you always this infuriating?" he snapped.

"Maybe you are just easily infuriated," she replied, turning to look at him and leaning against the sink, crossing her arms.

"What is it?" he demanded, eyes darting to the handle of her wand sticking out of her jeans.

"You are quite rude, aren't you?" she raised an eyebrow. "Or are you just used to bullying others to get what you want?"

He narrowed his eyes and glared at her, so she stared back, unwavering. Finally he let off a huff and muttered, "Could you please tell me about that stick of yours?"

"My wand," she said, drawing it and holding it in such a way he could take a good look. "Witches and wizards where I'm from use them to focus their magic. We can do magic without them, but it tends to be erratic and a bit unpredictable, so most of us keep our wands to do pretty much anything."

"Like putting up wards and creating water?" he asked.

"Yes, among other things."

"But you still must cook the food," he pointed out.

"Food is one of the things I cannot wave my wand and produce. I can summon it if I know where it is, and I can multiply it if I have some, but I cannot conjure it."

"Can you conjure other things?" he asked.

In response she flicked her wand at the table, and two plates, silverware, and glasses appeared.

He carefully picked up the plate and examined it, turning it over several times as if he were looking for imperfections. Finally his eyes darted up to look at her. "How did you do this?" he demanded.

"Magic," she replied.

"But how? How did you use magic to make something from nothing?"

"Do you really want me to get into magical theory?" she asked. "Or are you just trying to figure out how I am able to do something like that?"

His glare provided her answer.

"I don't know why I am a witch," she replied. "Where I come from I'm what's known as a Muggle-born. My parents are not magic. When I was eleven I found out I was a witch and I went to a school for witches and wizards to learn magic."

"So there are many of you?"

"A few thousand in my country, around a million all around my planet."

"You must be from very far away," he mused, barely above his breath.

"Because you would know if there were more like me, wouldn't you?" she asked.

A look crossed his face, just a flash of something, but it was enough she caught it.

"Are there more like me?" she asked.

"Not that I know of," he replied. "I had a feeling once, but it was weaker."

She studied his face, but couldn't gauge if he was lying to her. It would be an exercise in futility to try to get more information, so she turned back to cooking dinner, trying to ignore the feeling of his eyes on her as she worked. Without a word she brought the pot to the table and pushed it through the ward to him.

"Aren't you going to have some?" he asked.

"Of course I am, but when my parents entertained guests they always let the guests serve themselves first," she replied.

"I am your prisoner, not your guest," he reminded her.

"Be that as it may," she said, gesturing to the pot. He shot her a skeptical look before serving himself and pushing the pot back to the middle where she could pull it back through the wards. She put a little on her plate and put the pot to the side.

"You don't eat much, do you?" he raised an eyebrow.

"I spent much of the last year on the run, unsure of when my next decent meal might happen. Since then I've found it takes much less to fill me, and rich food still leaves me a little nauseous. The last time I was staying in a tent like this I resorted to boiling nettles a couple times just for something of substance."

"Why were you on the run?"

"When people who want you dead are hunting you it's in your best interest to keep on the move."

"I find it in my best interest to confront them," he shot back.

"I guess that is for you to decide. But one of the people we were fighting against was literally unable to die and we needed to keep clear until we changed that status."

"How was he unable to die?"

"No," she shook her head. "I am not going to give instructions on how to gain immortality to anyone, especially someone like you."

"Should I assume, then, that you're not going to tell me how you changed his status."

"Not a chance," she shook her head. "Just know that we did manage, and when I d... came here all that was left to be done was to kill him."

"You didn't finish it?" he raised an eyebrow.

"It's not as though I had a choice in the matter," she shot back.

"How could you not?"

She glared at him for a moment. "Eat your food," she snapped.

He crossed his arms defiantly, and she let off a small exasperated huff.

"Fine, don't eat your food. I'm not your mum, I can't make you do anything. But I will warn you if you make not eating a habit I won't waste what little I have from home on you, I'll give you whatever it was Poe suggested."

His eyes narrowed, and for a long moment neither moved. She finally rolled her eyes and took a bite, pointedly looking away from him, though she noticed out of the corner of her eye that he took a bite as well. They ate in silence, and when he finished he roughly pushed his dirty plate through the wards without so much as a sound. She stared at it for a moment, fighting the urge to throw it back at his head, but instead she flicked her wand and sent it to the sink, cleaning it with as little effort as possible, and trying to show on her face that he wasn't going to get to her that easily. Without a word she stood, rummaged through some of the boxes until she got some reading materials, and went into her room, waving her wand behind her to make sure he couldn't see.

Sighing she sunk onto her bed, kicked off her shoes, and laid down, staring at the ceiling. She had never wanted to leave a place more than she wanted to get away from that tent in that moment, go somewhere else, anywhere else, though even with an entire galaxy around her nowhere really felt safe. She only had one person who she might consider a 'friend', and he was probably light years away. For as afraid as everyone acted around Kylo she realized he didn't really frighten her, more annoyed her, though without the wards it might be a different story. She wondered how long she was going to put up with his petty, childish antics because it looked as though they would only have each other for company for quite some time.

Eventually exhaustion overtook her, and she fell asleep. She dreamed she was wandering the halls of Hogwarts, looking for someone, anyone, who might be able to tell her where to find Harry and how her friends were doing. As she ventured deeper into the castle the air became colder, and no matter how tightly she pulled her sweater around her it offered no escape from the cold. She could see her breath rising in the air above her, and as she descended into the dungeons she could start to feel her lungs ache from the cold. But she could hear someone now, and she kept going, determined to find them. She opened the door to the potions room, only to find it the dark and empty. She continued, going around a few corners, until she realized that the sound was coming from the Slytherin dorm. She stopped in her tracks, torn between going towards the sound of voices and laughter that were emanating from the hostile place, or retreating back into the castle in hopes of finding someone she knew wasn't there. Summoning her courage she stepped forward, looking at the painting concealing the door.

'Pure-blood', she muttered, and she wasn't surprised when the door opened for her. But the moment it did she realized she had made a mistake. For the door didn't open to the Slytherin dorm, but to the room at Malfoy Manor. Before she had time to process what she was seeing, Bellatrix was upon her, dragging her in as she fought, trying to brace herself for the pain she knew was about to come, but being unable to stop her scream...

She jolted up in bed, brow damp with sweat despite the freezing air around her. Her muscles ached with the memory of her torture, and she had to focus to get each of her legs to swing off the bed and hold her as she forced herself into a standing position. Using the flimsy canvas wall for as much support as she could she made her way out of the room, hoping to find her pain potion.

"What was that?" Kylo was standing at the wards, looking irritated.

"Nightmare," she managed, her voice hoarse from screaming and fatigue.

"You were screaming for several minutes," he snapped.

"Bad nightmare," she returned, carefully making her way to the table and gingerly sitting down. She summoned a glass and the first aid kit. It took a moment for her shaking hands to work properly and pry the kit open, but to her relief the pain potion was near the top. Kylo watched mutely as it took her three attempts to get the top off the potion and tip a few drops into her mouth. Closing her eyes she relaxed as she felt the potion flow through her, taking most of the pain with it, though there was still enough left over that her muscles ached and she could feel fatigue threaten to take over. She used her wand to fill the glass and took a long drink.

"Do you need anything before I go back to bed?" she asked.

"How am I expected to sleep knowing that, at any moment, you might start screaming like that again?" he demanded.

"Unfortunately for you your warden is recovering from a rather traumatic few months," she replied, her fatigue making her sound calm and even despite the anger bubbling in her chest. "I cannot promise that I will not have a repeat of this incident again tonight or any other night. I will, however, put up a silencing charm. Unfortunately those work both ways, so if you need anything after I put it up you're going to have to wait. So, I repeat, do you need anything before I go back to bed?"

"No. Just silence," he snapped.

"Fine," she muttered, unwilling to engage him further. She stood, and exhaled, and realized that the unnatural chill of her dream was hanging around her in the tent as well. Poe had mentioned it got cold at night, but she hadn't really prepared the space for it, nor did she think she could right then, as she had no desire to stay up long enough to build a fire and make sure it wasn't going to kill them in the middle of the night. She realized Kylo had put the blankets from both bunks on the bottom, but they were thin as the days had been getting warmer when Bill had prepared the tent. Without a word she waved her wand at his bed, and one of the blankets immediately became thicker, the insulation more than enough to protect someone against the chill in the tent. He looked from the bed to her without a word, and she didn't expect a thank you as she entered her room and put up the silencing charm.


	7. VII

The next day passed with barely a word between them. By the time evening had rolled around Hermione needed to go outside just to get away from the crushing loneliness that came with being confined with someone who had no interest in communicating. She read by wand light, but often found herself watching the glowing bugs moving lazily through the clearing outside her wards. When darkness completely overtook the sky she looked up, yearning for something familiar, but even in the stars she couldn't find anything that even vaguely resembled a familiar constellation. She searched several times until the cold finally drove her inside. Kylo was sitting at the table, the remains of his meal still in front of him, as his eyes seemed focused miles away. She went to collect his plate when he looked up at her.

"You're crying," he said sharply.

She straightened up and her hand came up to press against her cheek, and to her surprise she could feel the tear tracks. "I guess I am," she muttered, using her sleeve to wipe her eyes.

"Why are you crying?" he damanded.

She narrowed her eyes and considered turning away without a word, but deep inside anger started to bubble. Before she could stop herself she dropped across from him, pushing his plate away so hard it slid across the table and toppled to the ground.

"Listen," she hissed. "I am crying because I have been here for days and I still have no idea what I am doing here. I have been through months of pain and torment, and rather than getting some much earned relief I wind up so far away that I have no hopes of ever seeing home again. Then, because no one can trust me even though I've spent years fighting those who use Dark Magic I wind up having to babysit someone who, despite having a mother who would put him before the good of her movement, still aligns with a side who uses mass murder as a means to an end."

"You don't know anything about me," he stood, looming over her as close to the wards as he could get.

"I don't need to know anything else about you," she shot back. "You're like Voldemort and the Death Eaters, you use fear to keep others in line, to make a presence and to get others in line. But you're just like them, too. You don't realize that the more you expose people to fear, the more they resist it until you have fueled a rebellion that could bring you down."

"Maybe where you're from..." he started, but she let off a mirthless laugh.

"Do you really believe it's that much different?" she asked. "Your own _mother_ is leading a rebellion against you and your side. You stalk around in that bloody mask surrounded by troops, but do you honestly think that's breeding _loyalty_ in the people you conquer? People will do enough to save their lives, but that's not loyalty. That's fear. And eventually people stop caring about the consequences. Death is a price worth paying if it's in the fight against those trying to keep you in fear. And small victories just make people less afraid. Do you think the story of what happened on Starkiller isn't spreading? People are going to see that others have stopped being afraid and started fighting back, and they're going to start fighting back as well. You think it's that much different where I'm from? No, you're exactly like Voldemort was, and it cost him everything. Don't be surprised when the same thing happens to you," she added with a smirk.

He was staring at her, eyes wide in surprise.

She stood up, drawing herself to full height. Even though she was a head shorter she still felt as though she towered over him in that moment. "I don't know about history around here, but by the look on your face it looks as though I may have struck a nerve," she said evenly, then summoned his plate and took it to the sink. She felt his eyes on her as she washed and put the dishes away, and she didn't look at him as she started towards her room.

"What price did you pay?" he asked.

"What was that?" she asked, turning around.

"The price you paid," he replied, realization flooding his voice. "You said that death is a worthy price to pay, and you know that from experience. You died."

She didn't reply, but glared at him.

"Whoever or whatever you were fighting killed you," he smirked at her. "And through whatever magic you use you were brought here."

She set her jaw and tried to ignore twinges of pain shooting up her spine as the memories came over her. "Yes," she replied evenly. "I was killed in battle. And I would do it again, even though I know that what it got me."

"And what's that?" he sneered.

She slammed her hands down on the table between them and leaned toward him. "Saddled with the most annoying, self-centered, childish brat in an entire bloody galaxy," she hissed, muscles tightening as pain started to radiate over her, but she pushed through it to continue. "I might not understand much about the politics of this place, but I do know that when one side is using fear and murder to achieve their ends that side is destined to fall."

"And yet here you are," he replied softly, his tone taunting. "For all your fighting, for all your principles, you died, and you will never see your home again..."

"Stop it," she said through clenched teeth, feeling tremors starting to shake her fingers, and she pushed down on the table to prevent it from spreading.

"You are alone," he continued, ignoring her demand. "Even more so because you have no place here. You were cast away from the rebellion, they didn't know what to do with someone as powerful as you, so they sent you away. They don't want you, they saddled you with me, and I'm sure they weren't even thankful for your efforts. You are nothing to them, they would not mourn anything if you were to die once again. But there are others who would appreciate your gifts, who would use your talents. You could be great. Your name could be known throughout the galaxy."

"My name being known throughout the galaxy means nothing if I must kill and use fear to keep my position," she shot back.

"You would rather die once again in obscurity? Fighting for a cause that would just as soon see you gone as use your talents. Is that what you want? It would be such a waste to see your gift doing nothing but sitting, under utilized, on a planet in the outer rim forever. Join me. I can teach you."

Hermione's face screwed up as a pain reminiscent of her torture at Malfoy Manor shot through her, as though she were fighting a force Kylo was putting upon her, though she knew he couldn't get through her wards. Breathing heavily, she forced her eyes open, hate flashing through her orbs as she stared him down, and she saw him take a step back, one of his hands instinctively raising defensively.

"I would rather die," she managed through clenched teeth, and immediately after the pain overwhelmed her, and she fell forward. The last thing she was cognizant of was her head hitting the edge of the table as her body fell forward into darkness.

XXXXXXX

Kylo stayed perfectly still for a long moment, eyes taking in the scene before him, but not quite comprehending everything he saw. It was obvious the girl had been in quite some pain, and he relished in the fact that he seemed to make it escalate as he taunted her. At one point he thought she might be overwhelmed by it, but just as he was sure it would consume her she opened her mouth and made her determined declaration. And then her body went limp, falling forward into the table before crumpling to the floor. She laid before him, body twitching as some sort of pain continued to have control of her body, a bloody gash opened above one eye. And in that moment Kylo felt two very conflicting emotions: triumph and concern.

He quickly dismissed his concerns. The girl was somewhat vital for his survival, the food, water, and medicine were on her side of the wards, and he was unable to cross. That must be why he was concerned, not for the girl's health, it would be best for his cause if she actually died on that floor and they wouldn't have an enemy as powerful as she, but for his own well being. As much as he hated to admit it, there was no way for him to use the Force to get through her wards, he had stayed up all night that first night trying, and therefore he needed her alive at least long enough to set him free. But with her falling motionless on the floor on the other side of the wards he suddenly feared for his own life, wondering briefly if the rebels would send someone to check on them and if they did, if there was some way for them to get him out of his prison. The worst would be if the news got to Snoke that his apprentice, the supposed heir of Darth Vader, were trapped forever on some uninhabited planet, the only way to free him dying with some girl from nowhere.

As he pondered what his next move may be he noticed something. When the girl fell her hand extended towards the wards, and just the tips of her fingers crossed into his side. The tips of her tiny, delicate looking fingers may not be much, but at that moment they were the only chance he had, and so he extended his hand, concentrating as hard as he could. Normally moving things using the Force was so simple it was practically a reflex, but in that moment he was in a struggle. Beads of sweat formed on his brow as he concentrated on those fingers, reaching out and wrapping invisible ropes around them, pulling towards him as hard as he could, fighting the wards which seemed determined to keep her away from him.

After so long he was sure he'd have to give up the girl's arm shifted slightly, moving towards him, her fingers now through the wards to the second knuckle. It wasn't enough to grab himself, and so he doubled his efforts, teeth mashing together as a growl escaped from him in the monumental effort it took to get this girl, this tiny wisp of a girl, over the ward line so he could attempt to save her life and with it his own.

He was breathing hard, his muscles aching with the effort when her arm moved again, tortuously slowly, until her hand to her wrist was finally through the wards. Collapsing to his knees he took a few long breaths to steady himself, then reached out to grab her hand and pull her through, but he wasn't expecting what happened next. The girl's eyes shot open as her gasp filled the room, but he couldn't hear, as he was now looking at somewhere completely foreign.

 _The room was vast, all stone and gilded trimmings, the desperate screams for someone to notice the immense wealth one would have to ornament a room in such a way. There were people, ragged looking people, a crazed look in their eyes as they surveyed something on the floor with the kind of hunger one might see in the eyes of a predator that came across some easy prey. He moved, carefully avoiding the people though he had the distinct impression that he was invisible to them, until he could see what the group was looking at. He wasn't sure if he found it a surprise that it was Hermione on the floor before them, a woman with wild black hair sitting astride her as she bent over, running a blade over one of Hermione's arms, oblivious to... no, relishing in, the screams of the girl under her. When she sat up again there was a word written in the smeared blood, carved into the flesh of Hermione, though 'mudblood' had no meaning to him. Just when he thought Hermione might be getting some relief the woman atop her started screeching questions, not waiting for an answer before pointing her wand at the girl's chest and shouting an incantation. His blood ran cold as Hermione's screams filled the air, her body contorting in grotesque ways in a vain attempt to relieve the pain._

 _A swirl of color and he found himself in a tent much like the one he shared with his captor, though this one had the disheveled look of having been used for too long by people who had much bigger problems than keeping the place perfectly tidy. A boy slept on one of the beds, black hair askew, a lightning-shaped scar upon his forehead. He looked around, knowing she was there, and found a faint light on the outside of the tent. He walked out to her, and found her huddled outside in the cold, her breath rising in tiny clouds, as a lantern burned low next to her, the light almost too little to see the book open on her lap. But her eyes were not scanning the pages, but rather unfocused, staring out into the darkness but not seeing a single thing in front of her. She was rail-thin, and her eyes had the sunken look of someone who had been in bad health and worse stress for months. He tested his theory, moving slowly in front of her and crouching down to look into her face, but her eyes remained unchanged._

 _"Hermione," he whispered aloud._

 _For a moment her brow furrowed, and her eyes darted around in search of something, but within a minute they returned to their unfocused state as her mind slipped back into her distant thoughts. So he decided to try again._

 _"Hermione," he said, louder this time. "Can you hear me?"_

 _This time her head snapped up, turning this way and that, eyes scrutinizing each shape in the dark woods surrounding her. Her fingers wrapped tightly against her wand, and she placed the book on the ground next to her, preparing to move at a moment's notice._

 _"Ron?" she whispered, barely audible over the rustling of the leaves around them in the light breeze._

 _"No," he replied._

 _For some reason she pulled something on a chain from inside her shirt. A silver locket, adorned with a snake, looking very worse for wear. She stared at the thing for a long moment as if she expected the disembodied voice to come from inside._

 _"No, Hermione, I'm here," he said, reaching for her, but his hand passed through her, and she made no motion to indicate she had felt anything different. Instead she looked around again, then buried the locket deep in the depths of her clothes. She jumped up, gathering her book before running into the tent shouting for her companion to wake up so they could move. He stood and watched their frantic, yet well rehearsed preparation, and when they finally held hands to leave the vision swirled again._

 _This time he was standing in a giant castle which was probably once great, but was now littered with debris from the battle raging around him. There were bodies on the ground, people either carefully stepped over them as they fought or tripped over them in their concentration. It was easy to tell sides, one side preferred dark, flowing robes and the occasional silver mask, the other side seemed largely comprised of children and those who looked as though they had been living in hiding for weeks if not longer. Had he been forced to pick a side before seeing any fighting he would have no hesitation hedging his bets on the black robed group, but the children actually seemed to be winning. Spells from the black robed would barely miss the mark, those that hit didn't seem to cause the same damage that similar spells would cause when coming from the other side. Not too far away he saw a bald man with crazed red serpent-like eyes battling several people. Not much father that that he found who he knew would be there: Hermione, looking much more ragged and scarred than he ever remembered seeing her. Instinctively he knew he was about to witness her death, the thing he had just a few minutes ago taunted her for, and an involuntary knot clenched his stomach. She, along with two other girls about the same age as she, was battling the wild-haired woman who had given her the scars on her arm, and while they seemed to be holding their own he suddenly found himself desperate to warn her of her impending doom. But his cry of her name spilled from his lips in the same moment that a jet of green light hit her square on the chest and she crumpled to the ground._

 _Without thinking he moved to her, passing a redheaded woman letting out an almost animalistic cry of loss as she stepped forward to take Hermione's place. He could pay no more heed to the battle as he knelt next to Hermione, but one look into her face and he knew she was gone, that her death had been instantaneous. And he found he could not tear his eyes away from her, as often as he had caused death he had never really looked upon a dead body before, seen the glassy eyes open and unseeing, seen the mouth open in such a casual way that one might think she was just pausing to gather a thought mid sentence. He reached out again, and this time found he could feel her face, feel the softness of her skin underneath his fingertips. And in that moment he closed his eyes, tried to summon forth some hiterto unknown aspect of the Force that might bring this girl back to life. And he could feel something, feel the room around them starting to fade, and knew he would be pulled away from her at any moment, probably thrown into another one of the horrors of her past, and so he gnashed his teeth and focused as hard as he could, trying to feel life around him, wanting to steal it from every living thing around them and put it back into her._

 _"Live, Hermione!" he commanded, but she stayed motionless. Everything around them faded, and the only sound was the frantic pounding of his heart as his body tried to keep up with his demands, but the edges of his vision blurred and he knew he might pass out at any moment._

 _"Please," he finally managed through clenched teeth._

 _As if by a miracle she gasped, her eyes open, and for a fraction of a second he thought he could smell the damp earth of the planet he had originally gone to look for her on, but he blinked, and it was gone._

For a couple seconds he was completely disoriented as to the new place he had been taken, what new vision of hers he might see, but after looking around several times he realized he was back where he started- alone in the tent with her, his hand wrapped so tightly around hers he was in danger of breaking her fingers. His very bones seemed to ache as though the torture, exhaustion, and death he had witnessed had been his own. He wasn't sure he had the energy to fight the wards, but he gave one last herculean tug and to his surprise Hermione's body came as easily across the barrier as if she were on invisible wheels. He reached out, half expecting the barrier to be gone, but his fingers met the invisible wall and would go no further. Needing a rest he sat for several minutes next to her, pressing the hem of his tunic against her wound in an effort to stop the flow of blood. Thoughts of using the Force to try to heal her flowed through his mind, but were just as easily pushed away. It wasn't that he wasn't confident that he could heal her if he tried, but he was afraid of what it might cost her and him if he did. And even if he were willing to risk the effort he wasn't sure he had the strength.

When he finally felt rested enough he stood and looked around, desperate for anything that might help him at least provide her basic care. He saw a glass of water that he had left untouched on the table, and he took it to the side of the tent and laid it against the frosty canvas. Then he returned to his bed, and tore off the bottom of the sheet, folding it several times until it resembled a bandage, then tore off two more strips, folding one of them the same. He went into the bathroom and looked around, but Hermione kept her healing potions on her side of the wards, carefully portioning out what he needed and pushing them through to him while instructing him on their use. Still, there was enough cool water to get things started, and he dipped one of the folded cloths into a stream from the sink. He placed the cloths on a table at the side of the bed, and went back to collect Hermione, carefully lifting her into his arms and lying her on the lower bunk. He took the wet cloth and cleaned the blood away from her wound, feeling relief that it wasn't as bad as it first appeared, though it was still slowly oozing blood. Once he cleaned it to his satisfaction he returned to the glass. Finding it acceptably cold he wrapped it in some of the cloth and held it to her forehead. To occupy himself he counted seconds into minutes until he was sure he had been holding the icy water to her head for twenty minutes. Finally he placed the second folded cloth atop the wound and secured it in place with some more of the torn sheet.

With nothing left he could do he sat next to the bed watching her, trying to convince himself that the worry he felt deep in his gut was for his own well being and not for her.


	8. VIII

_She was looking out across a deep blue lake surrounded by some of the most beautiful scenery she had ever seen in her life. She had no idea where she was, but she did get the feeling that this place was peaceful... until the sound of shouting came from behind her. She turned and saw a house, a nice one without being too fancy, and it was only by the Millenium Falcon parked nearby that she knew was was not home. A young boy of about 8 came creeping out the front door, doing his best to avoid the raised voices inside. The jet-black waves of his hair bounced as he tripped lightly down the steps and she her heart broke for him as she saw the look of fear and confusion on his face. He hid in some bushes under an open window, hugging his knees to his chest. She cautiously approached, unsure if the boy could see her or not, but if he did he made no indication even as she came close enough it would be nearly impossible to miss her. The boy's eyes brimmed with tears that he seemed determined not to let fall as he clenched his teeth and rocked lightly back and forth, the rocks around him trembling as if in fear._

 _Deciding to take a risk she moved in front of him. "Hullo?" she said softly._

 _The boy looked around, barely swinging his head each direction, unsure if he actually heard anything or not, but his eyes passed right by where she was standing._

 _As she tried to decide if she should try speaking again, perhaps if she spoke louder he might be able to hear her, but the voices inside the house drew her attention. She couldn't hear everything that was said, but she caught words like 'Luke', 'Vader', and 'Dark Side' very clearly. From what she could gather the two people inside were arguing whether or not to send the boy away to train, and she realized who was cowering in the bushes under the window._

 _She moved closer, feeling a need to console him, wondering if a kind word might change the path of history. What if this was how she helped fight the darkness? By turning a child who was so inclined to it that he became the terror of the galaxy away from the Dark Side and back towards the light? What if this moment was the moment she could win the war for the rebels by taking their top fighter and turning him against the First Order?_

 _"Kylo?" she called softly._

 _The boy's brow furrowed and he looked around as much as he could without turning his head._

 _"Kylo!" she called louder, and once again the boy looked around for the source of some unknown sound without seeing her mere inches away._

 _"Kylo Ren!" she tried again._

 _This time the boy covered his ears with his hands, pressing so hard she could see the muscles bulging in his forearms in an attempt to keep the voice out._

 _"Ben!" he hissed, careful not to raise his voice to the point where it might draw attention from those inside. "I'm Ben!"_

 _Hermione felt her jaw drop. She had no idea that Kylo Ren was not his given name and yet she felt as though she should have known. She wanted to reach out and console him, to apologize for tormenting him, but as she moved her and towards him a sharp bang behind them drew both their attention. Ben locked eyes with Han as he slammed the door shut behind him, but his father didn't say a word as he strode to the Falcon, and Hermione felt a pit in her stomach grow as the engines came to life and the ship rocketed towards the sky. Before she had a chance to turn around to talk to Ben she could feel a shift, and when she completed her turn it was not the 8 year old Ben she saw, but one a few years older, sitting on a cot in a plain room._

 _He was rocking back and forth again, hands gripping the thin mattress under him so tightly his knuckles were white._

 _"I don't know," he was murmuring._

 _She looked around, looking for who he was speaking to, but she saw no one._

 _"I feel it in me," he said a moment later. "The Darkness. Luke feels it, too." Another long pause. "I don't think I'm strong enough for what you're asking."_

 _Hermione realized he must be hearing the same voice she heard, the one sounding inside her head as clearly as if they were sitting knee-to-knee. The one that sent ice through her veins when he promised her greatness. The voice must be promising the same things to Ben and Ben, being younger and more torn, was more apt to listen and be enticed than she had been._

 _"I don't know if I can," Ben said, voice shaking._

 _"Ben," she said, kneeling in font of him, trying to place her hands on hers. "Fight him, Ben. There are other ways, other paths. You don't need to turn to the Dark Side, you have other choices."_

 _Ben looked up, his eyes briefly on her face, and she could feel a smile start to form as she thought he could see her, but then they started searching again, and her smile and stomach dropped simultaneously._

 _"Ben, please..." she begged, feeling tears start to form and cloud her vision, but she could feel the air around her shift once again, and when she blinked the tears away she was in the same room, but something was different. Ben was lying on the cot in front of her, clearly asleep, but she could hear the soft rustle of footsteps behind her. She turned to see a man in long robes standing over her._

 _"Who are you?" she asked instinctively, standing and turning to face the man, but if he had heard her or seen her he gave absolutely no indication. Rather he reached towards Ben with one hand, concentrating hard, a horrified look coming over his face. In an almost robotic fashion he pulled a metal contraption much like the one she had taken from the ground near Kylo when she took him prisoner. He pressed a button, and her eyes went wide as she saw a beam of light erupt from the end, and she knew it was a weapon he intended to use against Ben._

 _"No!" she cried, throwing herself forward as though she could stop the memory from happening. She heard Ben moving behind her, and a blue saber came up to stop the green. She turned to look at Ben, and she saw his face shift from betrayal to anger. She saw the moment Ben turned into Kylo. Hatred flashing in his eyes like fire Kylo raised his hand and brought the hut down around them, burying the man. Hermione ducked instinctively though no rock hurt her, and when she stood Kylo was already stalking towards a large building not far away._

 _"Ben!" she shouted in a last-ditch effort to stop him, and he whirled around, eyes sweeping the area. He looked very much like an injured animal whose instinct became to fight, but when he didn't see her standing there he turned and stalked off, and despite her attempt to keep up with him she still wasn't halfway to the building when the first scream of pain happened, and she stopped dead, covering her ears to block out the sound, eyes screwed shut as she begged to be free of the vision._

The sounds faded, and light started to filter through her eyelids. A sudden pain throbbed on her head, but it quickly dulled to an ache. She took a couple deep breaths, then opened her eyes. The sight before her caused her to sit up quickly, moving against the canvas wall of the tent. Kylo was sitting in a chair next to the bed she was on, staring at her intensely, but he didn't move despite seeing her wake up. For a long moment neither spoke, each looking at the other in a new, appraising light, as though they had never really seen the other before.

"Are you alright?" he asked softly.

The question struck her as odd, and she furrowed her brow, the motion causing a shot of pain across her forehead.

"You hit your head when you fell," he nodded towards her injury.

She reached up to find her head wrapped in bandages. Carefully she peeled them off, and touched the sore spot, where she found a hard lump and a scab above her eye. Touching it caused her to wince in pain, but she quickly regained her composure. She knew the situation was dangerous, she was on Kylo's side of the tent, there were no wards between them, and she didn't have her wand. He could easily kill her... but he hadn't. Sunlight was lightening the walls of the tent, the last she had remembered it had been night, so she had been on his side of the wards for several hours and he obviously felt no need to hurt her yet. Two possibilities came to her mind: either he was waiting to hurt her until she was conscious enough to experience the pain, or, she hoped, he didn't want to hurt her for some reason. The only reason she could think for the second scenario was that the wards were still there, and he didn't know if they would disappear with her death, so he still needed her at least long enough for her to take them down and set him free. If that were the case she could probably look forward to quite a lot of pain until she finally relented and followed his commands. But there was something about Kylo, something off. He looked worn, his eyes dark from lack of sleep, but this was no mere exhaustion. Something had happened to him, something that had taken the energy from him and left a man who made sitting upright look like a chore.

"I'm alright," she said softly.

He nodded once, closing his eyes and letting off a deep breath. She took the opportunity to look at him. Something had shifted, he was not as tall and defiant has he had been with her before, his shoulders were now rounded and he looked somewhat defeated. What had happened while she was knocked out? Did he know that she had seen so many of the worst moments of his life? A thought passed through her head, and she could feel a frightened look pass over her face.

"When..." she started slowly, and only a slight tilt of his head indicated he was listening. "When I lost consciousness I started... seeing things."

"Did they appear to be some of the worst moments of my life?" he looked up into her eyes.

"I'm assuming..." she bit her lip.

"I saw the worst of yours," he said. "Do you still have that scar?" he nodded at her arm.

She bit her lip as she rubbed her forearm, then pushed up the shirt she was wearing. His face darkened a little more as each letter was exposed.

"What does it mean?" he demanded.

"Where I come from those who come from long magical lines look down upon people who come from families without magic. 'Mudblood' is the foul word they use for wizards and witches like me. Bellatrix was kind enough to give me the constant reminder that many in my world view me as lesser just because my parents aren't like us."

Something incomprehensible crossed over his face. She very cautiously moved closer, then reached out and placed a hand on his arm. He looked down at the contact in surprise, he had been so lost in thought he hadn't seen her move, but he didn't draw away from her.

"Was Bellatrix the one who killed you?" he asked.

"Yes," she nodded.

"I saw it. I saw how quick it happened. Did it hurt?"

"Not at all," she shook her head. "I saw it coming at me and then... nothing. I sort of woke up in this dream-like place where I was given the choice to move on or go help fight the darkness, and I chose the second one."

"Why?" he sounded confused and curious.

"I wanted to see my friends again," she replied honestly. "I wanted to see what happened once the war was over and things could change. I wanted to see what our world was like when those who thought 'mudblood' should be used as an everyday term were defeated. But I died right before it happened. And, to tell the truth, I feel like I had earned to see that ending. I had been fighting Voldemort since I was twelve years old. I nearly died, I watched good friends die, I had my education ruined, and when it was minutes from being over I got killed. Right after that I was given the chance to come back and I thought I would go through another fight, then when that was done I could go back and see what I had fought and died for. I had no bloody idea that I would wake up in another bloody galaxy, and I had no bloody idea how I did that so I don't know how I would get back, so considering that was the whole reason I decided to live I guess I made a poor choice."

To her surprise there was a look like guilt on his face. "What did you see?" he finally asked.

"Nothing good. Who was that man?" she asked.

"My uncle, Luke Skywalker," he replied through clenched teeth. "My mom thought it would be best for me to train with him, and sent me away."

"And then he tried to kill you?" she asked in surprise.

"He saw the darkness in me, and it reminded him of someone he once knew. And he decided it would be best to kill me before I could get stronger. But I was already too strong. I stopped him, and then I tore his training temple to the ground. He was going to take everything from me, so I took everything from him."

She opened her mouth to ask if killing people was critical to that plan, but thought the better of it. The motion didn't go unnoticed, however, and he raised an eyebrow.

"You disapprove," he said.

"Of the killing part," she replied evenly, attempting to keep her disgust out of her voice. "There are very few instances where I support killing."

"Very few," he repeated.

"Voldemort needed to die, and so did many of his followers. But they had a long history of crimes to their names."

"And you assume those I killed that night didn't?"

"Those screams sounded rather young," she shot back. "Considering I spent seven years of my childhood with people wanting to kill me for the crime of existing I can't exactly condone the actions of anyone who would kill young ones just because you don't like what side they're on."

Their eyes locked for most of a minute, and she set her jaw and stared back, refusing to be the first one to look away. Finally a look of guilt crossed his face and he looked down.

"He had betrayed you, I could tell that much just by your face. I might not know the whole situation, but I know that your parents fought about sending you, and your mum must have won so you went, and then he betrayed you. I can't imagine how much anger that would cause someone. I don't agree with what you did after, but..." she took a deep breath, "but I can understand that kind of anger."

"Were you betrayed?" he scoffed.

"Not in the same way. But I can't say that had I been thrown back into that battle that I would have been as hesitant to throw some of the more harmful curses."

"You were in the middle of a war and you _weren't_ using the most harmful spells you could?" he asked in disbelief.

"The thing about most of those is you have to _mean_ them, and I would have a very difficult time wanting to cause someone the type of damage that might severely harm them or kill them, so most of those spells don't work properly for me," she bit her lip as she finished, wondering if she told the man too much.

He studied her in a way he hadn't studied her before, in a way that made Hermione blush, bite her lip, and look away under the intensity of his stare. Finally he moved his hand, reaching cautiously up to tenderly place his fingertips on her cheek, and she had to fight a sudden desire to press herself into his touch. He closed his eyes and seemed to be concentrating, but after a moment he shook his head.

"You," he started softly, opening his eyes and looking into hers, "are the ideal of what those like Luke looked for. You are powerful, but you do not want power. You are compassionate, but willing to fight when necessary. You are someone who would be strong with the light, and yet I still can't tell, no matter how hard I concentrate, if there is Light or Dark in you."

"Probably because magic is so much different than all this," she replied in a whisper.

"But there is still a Dark Side to your magic, is there not? That woman, and that man that I saw at your death, had Darkness not consumed them?"

"They practiced Dark Magic, yes," she replied.

"But you do not."

"Because I _choose_ not to. And occasionally I have chosen to do things that are against the law to help my side. I can't say that it wouldn't extend to killing if those I love are in danger. Given the right circumstances..."

"Dark Magic could be considered Light in the right circumstances," he pointed out, realization dawning on his features. "You do your magic to better your side of the war, but you admit that you have crossed the line in order to help those you love. Perhaps that's why you are so difficult to read, because there is so much gray area in your magic."

"Or, perhaps, because I am an outsider who was never meant to be here," she muttered.

"If you weren't meant to be here, you wouldn't be here," he replied firmly.

Her brow furrowed once more, causing another shot of pain. Involuntarily she looked over towards her first aid kit, wishing for relief from one of the potions it contained. He followed her line of sight and saw what she was looking at.

"Can you stand?" he asked, rising himself and holding out a hand.

She took a quick assessment of her body. Besides her head her muscles felt rubbery and fatigued as the adrenaline of her meeting ebbed. The short distance across the tent suddenly felt like a mile, and she wasn't entirely sure she could make it, but still she reached for his hand. He pulled her to her feet, and she leaned against him for support as they took a few steps towards the table, where she knew she would be on her own to make the rest of the short trip. He took her as far as he could, helping her lean against the table so she could take herself through the wards. As she did so she looked down, finding her wand sitting on the floor just under the bench of the table. She stared at it for a long moment before making a decision, one she knew she may regret.

She sunk to the floor as she heard him make a noise of protest behind her, and she grabbed the wand. Before she could second-guess her actions she waved her wand, dropping the wards.


	9. IX

Kylo looked at her in shock as she draped one arm across the bench and leaned against it, carefully gauging his reaction. Cautiously he reached out, fingers passing through where the wards once were, running up and down, testing to see if she had truly taken them down.

"Why?" he demanded.

"You didn't kill me when you had the chance," she replied. "The wards around the tent are still up, you can't leave the area, but I trust you enough in here."

"How do you know you aren't making a very grave mistake?" he asked.

"I don't," she replied. "But I'm going to do what few have done recently, and that's put my trust in you. If the wards being up were the only reason you didn't kill me before, they're still up out there, and that'll still be the reason. But I think you and I have experienced something, and I'm not sure what or why."

He stepped across the line where the wards once were the way one might step onto a former minefield, wary that something might go wrong and cause a lot of pain. When he had fully crossed the line he shot a look back at Hermione, trying to see any indication that she was hiding something from him, but she was sitting with her eyes closed, the heel of one hand pressed to the wound on her forehead. Without looking away from her he raised his hand, and the first aid kit flew into his palm. He knelt next to her coaxing her hand away from her head and placing it on the bag. Slowly she opened the bag and placed her hand inside.

" _Accio_ ," she murmured, and a phial of potion flew into her hand. Cautiously he took it from her, and almost instinctively he placed a few drops on her wound. He watched in fascination as it healed before his eyes, and the moment he could see no trace he gently ran his thumb over it, and an image swam in front of him, of Hermione, eyes alight as she laughed at something. In that moment, he realized, she looked perfect, content and worry-free. Something stirred in his chest, a desire to see that version of Hermione, but knowing that it was next to impossible while they were confined to the wretched tent.

She was fighting the top of another phial, so he took it from her and opened it. She took a small sip of the contents, and immediately the pain that was written across her face started to diminish. A moment later she let off a sigh of relief and she pulled herself into a standing position.

"Thank you for your help," she smiled at him, replacing the contents of the first aid kit before putting it away. "I have no idea what time it is, but I'm sure you're hungry. What would you like?"

"Stay seated," he commanded. He went to the boxes that housed the tinned food Poe had left with her, and started rummaging through, occasionally picking something up to examine the label. After selecting three tins he started gathering things to cook with, working from memory of the times he had watched her in the kitchen. Not much after he placed a plate in front of her, some sort of meat and vegetable hash, and she decided to try it rather than ask.

"This is good," she said after the first couple bites.

"You sound surprised," he raised an eyebrow.

"Where I'm from the more senior levels of the army don't do the cooking. I guess it is just a little surprising to me to find one who actually knows his way around the kitchen."

"I did not join the First Order for the first part of my life, and my mother insisted I know a thing or two around the kitchen. She expected a different outcome, and thought I should at least be able to do the basics like cooking."

"That was rather wise of your mum," she nodded. "There are some people around me who probably couldn't cook soup from a can, as they've never had to cook a thing in their lives."

"Magic?"

"Spoiled, more like," she shrugged. "Some families have more money than common sense, at least, that is how my father used to put it. They didn't act like they could lose everything and have to fend for themselves."

"Cooking from those supplies isn't exactly difficult," he pointed out.

"No, I'd think it probably isn't. But there's still enough to know how not to burn things, and what things taste good together."

He was looking at her with a hint of a smirk.

"What?" she asked.

"I never met a person so impressed by someone's ability to put together the most basic meal."

"Oh, shut it," she smiled. "Maybe I'm impressed because I spent months with two boys who couldn't put cheese and bread together to make a sandwich without someone walking them through it. And Harry had no bloody excuse, his aunt and uncle were awful to him and made him do a lot of the cooking. He should have been able to help me, but I guess when you're surviving on what you can scrounge in the woods you're not cooking what you're used to."

"I'm assuming you had no experience with those ingredients, either, and yet you were expected to cook them," he pointed out.

"I don't know how I became the designated cook," she shrugged. "A lot of things around that time just sort of happened, especially since little things would quickly devolve into fights. I guess it was just another of the consequences of wearing a bit of an evil man's soul."

"Excuse me?" he raised an eyebrow.

"You saw that man, did you not?"

He nodded, immediately knowing she was talking about the man with the cold, reptilian eyes.

"He split his soul and encased pieces into objects to try to keep himself immortal. Because it's very difficult to destroy a soul we had to wear a piece that was kept in a locket before we found the means to destroy it, but being that close to it caused changes, and not for the better."

He stared at her for a long while. This girl, this unremarkable outsider of a girl had such fascinating stories of where she was from, made all the more impressive because her story didn't span a galaxy, the strife was condensed to a much smaller area. And yet that made it feel all the more constricting. When Luke faced difficulties he disappeared somewhere in the middle of the galaxy. When he was younger and needed some space he once stole the Falcon and took it halfway across the galaxy just to be alone with his thoughts for a bit. But this young girl didn't have the luxury. She couldn't escape, even when she was on the run, because that bit of evil had been hanging around her neck. And despite all that, despite _dying_ for her cause, she still sat there speaking about it calmly, but he could tell there was a fire brimming just underneath ready to burn anyone who stood against her to the ground. And, he quickly realized, that if she knew the reality of what the First Order did, that fire would be directed at him. And, for the first time in a very long time, he felt a twinge of fear creep around him, though he wasn't sure if it was fear of the girl, or fear of disappointing her.

XXXXXX

Hermione finished eating in silence, though her mind was moving faster than it had in a while. What had shifted so quickly that she felt she was able to literally drop her guards around Kylo Ren? She remembered the fear she felt as he backed her into a corner, but that felt like a lifetime ago. What had changed? She could say it was knowing his background, but she had also known Voldemort's and found it just as tragic, if not moreso, and didn't feel safe around him or compassion for him. No, it was something else entirely, something she had never experienced before. There was a new connection there, but it was different than anything she had ever experienced before, almost as if it were a tangible thing that bound them together. She realized that she could feel him better than she ever had, and not just a troubled dark presence near her, but more the natural ebb and flow of his emotions. She knew that despite his kindness towards her, he was still wary that it was all a trap. She could feel a little hope in his chest as he laid her plate in front of her, feel his bemusement at her reaction, feel his curiosity at the details of her story.

And she could feel a twinge of fear as he looked at her.

That intrigued her the most. Kylo was much larger than her, she had seen him casually using the Force and remembered how he attempted to use it to hurt her when he first discovered their living situations, and despite their new connection he still had a presence about him that most would find fearsome. And yet he was the one who felt fear. What did he have to fear from her?

She cleaned both their plates without a word, then gathered a few things to go sit and read in the rapidly cooling evening air. She needed a few minutes outside the tent to collect her thoughts. But when she stepped outside the flap her book and lantern fell to the floor as she let off a cry of surprise.

"Hermione?" Kylo asked as he burst from the tent, immediately taking a defensive stance in front of her before he truly had a chance to assess the situation. But there were no enemies surrounding them, no weapons pointed in their direction. There was nothing.

Or, more accurately, there were thousands of dead things. The forest surrounding them seemed to have died suddenly, leaving husks of dead insects littered on the ground, trees that had once been green an vibrant now a dull brown, several toppled over as their brittle trunks gave way. The grass was also brown and crunched under every movement of their feet. Far off, up a hill, they could still see green things, but as far as Hermione could see there was nothing but death.

"Wait here," she commanded softly, drawing her wand.

"No," he insisted, grabbing her wrist.

"I'm not going very far," she protested, pulling herself away. "I'm not going to leave the wards. I want to check them. But just in case you should stay here. I'm much less recognizable than you."

He looked conflicted but nodded once. She spotted what used to be a small game path and started to follow it, winding lazily between trees, heading towards the soft sounds of a river rushing over rocks. The tent became more obscured behind her until finally it and Kylo were hidden from her view. She stopped a moment, straining to hear the sound of insects or birds, something indicating life, and she did hear it from up ahead. A few more dozen yards brought her to the edge of her wards, and to an extraordinary and horrifying sight. Life sprung up on the other side of the wards, as bright and vibrant as it had been the last time she had stepped outside the tent, but up against that boundary were piles of dead things, thousands of those flashing insects as well as small mammals and a few birds, all piled against the barrier as if they had been trying to escape their deaths but couldn't get out, though she had designed the wards to allow them to leave without problem. Their bodies rested in piles against the wards as though they were as solid as brick, and these animals had been desperate to escape the horror inside, instinct telling them that their deaths were immanent.

A noise sounded behind her, and she spun, raising the wand, but it was only Kylo, eyes studying the death around him, an unreadable look on his face. She concentrated on his feelings, and found they mostly mirrored her how, fear, confusion... but his emotions were also tinged with guilt. But he hadn't been able to leave the tent before now, and the last time she had been outside the forest was very much alive. Why would he feel guilt over everything around him?

"My wards... they should have been able to get through. I must have made a mistake, and somehow the wards..."

"Killed trees within hours?" he interrupted.

"That's where the wards end," she motioned to the piles of dead creatures.

"Why would they crowd there if it were the wards killing them? Wouldn't it make more sense that they try to cower somewhere closer to the tent?"

She bit her lip.

"Something else happened here," he murmured, looking around as though he were avoiding eye contact with her.

"Do you think we're in danger?" she asked softly.

"No," he replied confidently.

"Then what...?" she asked.

He shot her a look, then started back towards the tent. She looked around one more time, straining her ears in case Kylo was wrong, but as she walked back realization washed over her. Kylo was so confident that they weren't in danger because he had somehow caused all the destruction. But how? How had he killed so many things without her noticing the show of force it must took, and why had he done so? And if he had killed everything nearby how had she been spared?

"You did this!" she accused as she burst into the tent.

Kylo, who had been walking towards his bunk, stopped mid stride. At first he straightened up, but a moment later his shoulders rolled forward and he turned to look at her. "Yes," he confessed softly.

"How?" she demanded.

"I'm not exactly sure. I was straining, trying to use the Force for something, and I must have drawn what I need from everything around us."

"What were you trying to use the Force for?"

He looked at her for a long moment. "I saw your death," he murmured softly. "And I was only thinking of saving your life, and I knew I had to... I tried to use the Force. I tried to take the life around me and give it to you. But I wasn't where you were, I was here. So I stole the life of everything around us to try to give it to you.."

"That doesn't make sense," she whispered.

"Does anything about you being here make any sense at all?" he asked, stepping towards her. "There is no reason for you being here. You should be dead. But you're here. Why? Do you have any other explanation?"

She shook her head, biting her lip. "But why?" she asked. "I took you prisoner, I'm keeping you here. Why would you want to save me?"

"For the same reason you called for me," he murmured, standing over her now and studying her face. "I never saw you, but I heard a voice. Not Snoke, not Luke, your voice. You know what I've done and you still tried to reach out to me. You had the means and the opportunity to kill me, and you instead took me prisoner. You're the first person in a long time who doesn't think I'm past saving."

"No, I'm not," she insisted. "Your mother..."

"Does she? He asked. "Does she truly believe I'm not past saving? Or did she send me to some outer rim planet with the one person who could kill me? Did she expect you to rehabilitate me, turn me to the light, to change me drastically? Or did she expect you to watch me as does any warden watch a prisoner, and possibly kill me in order to gain your own freedom again?"

"That's a rather bleak view to have of your mother," she replied timidly. "She could have had you killed..."

"She wouldn't. She's still my mother. She's lost the rest of her family, and she wouldn't want to be the one who ordered the last of her blood killed. But she sent me here with the only guard someone who could kill me if I became too much. And if you killed me she would mourn, she might even hold it against you, but I doubt she would be surprised at all."

"She loves you," Hermione said, trying to put a bit more force in her words.

"She loves what I was. She has no hope of me being that again. She knows that person is lost."

Hermione felt a pit in her stomach hearing Leia's voice in her head, telling her that she lost her son. "She still hopes," she whispered.

"But doesn't believe. You," he reached up, cupping her face, "you believe. If you didn't you wouldn't have taken the wards down."

"I do believe," she nodded. "I saw you, you didn't want to follow Snoke. It wasn't until Luke tried to kill you that you really turned. You were betrayed by more than just Luke, and you lashed out after that betrayal, but I don't think your heart is really in it. I think you get by on your anger and the power you get from it, but what I feel from you is so much different than what you show everyone else. You became Kylo Ren because Snoke is the only one who hasn't betrayed you, but I still think Ben is in there."

"You're the only one."

"I don't have to be," she replied. "It's not too late."

And to her surprise he bent his head and kissed her.


	10. X

Every nerve in Hermione's body became alight, though they seemed conflicted on whether she should be excited or terrified. So she froze for several seconds, her brain unable to make a choice as to her next move. She could feel Kylo in front of her, a mix of nerves, desire, and confusion, and gradually she felt her body relax, and she gave into the kiss, leaning into him as her arms snaked cautiously around him.

When he pulled back there was something in his eyes, something new and alight, and she could feel a little of his connection to the Dark Side start to waver. And she realized, in that moment, that her mission had never been grandiose. She had agreed to help others fighting the Darkness, and in her mind that meant being on the forefront much as she had during the fight with Voldemort, but it was so much simpler than that. She only had to help one other fight the darkness, and that was the man standing in front of her. She felt certain that in helping that one person fight the darkness within himself that it could impact the war as a whole.

"You're smiling," he murmured.

"Would you have preferred it if I were frowning?" she raised an eyebrow.

"I wasn't sure how you would react," he admitted.

"Lucky for you I rather enjoyed that," she replied cheekily. "Though if you were looking for advice springing that on a woman won't always end so nicely. Best ask permission in the future."

"I'll remember that."

"So..." she muttered, backing up to put some distance between them. "What does this mean?"

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I am not naive," she replied. "I don't believe in fairy tales, where the boy kisses the girl and suddenly all is well. I'm assuming that the last five minutes didn't turn you completely away from the First Order."

His face dropped and he looked contemplative, but he didn't respond.

"I'm realistic, Ky... Ben," she corrected herself, and his eyes shot up to meet hers, though she couldn't tell how he felt about her using his given name over his chosen. "I know I would be a fool to let my guard down because of this, and I would be a fool to think that this would turn you from your path. But I also know that there's a limit to how far I'm willing to let things go while you're still running around, acting as Snoke's attack dog. I don't expect any grandiose changes to happen quickly, you're still my prisoner and we're still staying here until it is either safe to return or unsafe to stay. Trust is something you earn, and just because we kissed doesn't mean that I am going to trust you any more than I did five minutes ago." She tensed as she finished, preparing herself for him to confess that it was a ruse, or get upset that she wouldn't trust him, but he looked at her and nodded once.

"That seems logical," he replied.

"Good," she smiled. "Though you won't hear me objecting if it were to happen again."

He let off a soft chuckle. "Am I forgiven for...?" he trailed off, making a motion towards the outside of the tent.

"It's really hard to say," she bit her lip. "I don't like what happened out there, but until we can prove otherwise that's the only reason I'm here, and it's hard to be upset about not being dead," she replied honestly. "But I must know; Why were you so intent on saving me? Up until that point we barely seemed able to have a civil conversation, let alone being to the point where you would attempt to save my life."

His face hardened as he thought in silence for a moment. "I don't know what was going through my head at that moment," he finally replied. "When you hit your head I, at first, had every intention of leaving you there to suffer your consequences. To tell the truth I kind of enjoyed seeing you work yourself into that state. But I realized that if you were to perish that would leave me in a very precarious situation, so I did what I had to in order to help you. And when I touched you... those things I saw. The things you did, what you were willing to do, for your cause, they horrified me and awed me all at once, and there was no time to process those thoughts before I saw your death. And in that moment I panicked. All I knew was that you were dead in front of me, and in that moment the thought of that was unbearable. So I did the only thing I could think of; I tried to heal you. But healing, especially for those like me, usually comes at a price, but right then I was willing to pay any price."

"But... you've said it yourself several times. I'm a threat to you, and to everything the First Order stands for."

"That didn't matter to me, not then. I didn't think of the First Order at all. The only thing I thought about was losing that voice that had called to me."

"If you saw all that, you do know why I can never switch sides, why I could never bring myself to fight for the First Order."

"I know. But that doesn't mean you must fight against them."

"That would leave me in a very difficult position if I were to choose to fight," she pointed out. "Or maybe we both step away from the fight. I've had enough with giant battles and light versus dark, good versus evil type fights for my life. I'd rather not be pulled into another one in a place I know so little about. You and I, we're powerful. We can keep them away. We don't have to fight, and we don't have to stand with either side."

"You don't really believe that, do you?" he scoffed.

"Maybe I do," she shot back. "I came here to help others fight the darkness, but the First Order isn't using dark magic, they're using military tactics. And here you are, and 'fight the darkness' has a very real connotation when it comes to you. Maybe I wasn't brought here to help a galaxy, that's an overwhelming thought that makes me see there isn't much future for me. Maybe I'm here to help one person fight their own darkness. Because I can feel you, Ben," she reached for his hand as he winced when she used his name. "I can feel you're not all dark. And you still have a choice, you always will until your very end. And maybe that choice is run with me, get away from all this, and let those who actually want to fight have their battles."

"I wish it were that simple, but I know them. Snoke will not stop looking for me, and if he finds out you've been holding me here he'll demand that I bring you to him, at which point he'll either kill you or hold you until you crack and agree to join him. And we don't have enough supplies to last forever, someone is planning on bringing you some. Do you trust them enough not to tell if they see something happening between us? And if they do tell, what do you think the Resistance is going to do to you? Do you think they'll celebrate you as a hero, or will they see you as a traitor? No matter what happens there will be someone unhappy with this, and there's a good chance you will be targeted because of it."

"An entire galaxy around you and you're telling me there's nowhere we could hide?"

"Not forever," he shook his head.

She bit her lip and thought a moment. "What if we do fight? We could join the Resistance during a battle, that way you could prove your loyalty to them."

"And then what, exactly?" he snapped. "Unless that battle is taking down Snoke and much of top tier of the First Order making such a public statement will still cause us to be targeted."

"Even if we both went our separate ways now we'll be targets," she retorted. "You can't tell me the Resistance wouldn't kill you if this arrangement fails, and I am a known sympathizer with abilities beyond what most can do. It would be a mistake for the First Order not to try to kill me if they have the chance. And knowing their methods I fear for any planet they may find me on."

"Starkiller was destroyed," he reminded her.

"Are they really going to give up that easily?" she raised an eyebrow. "Because, from what I have read of Leia's diary and some historical texts, this is not the first time something like Starkiller has been constructed. Yes, it dwarfed its predecessors, but no one so far seems very keen not to keep building these bloody giant weapons and blowing planets out of the sky."

"They were decimated, but so was the Resistance. The First Order may have lost many of their ranks as Starkiller was destroyed, but they are nothing if not organized. I would not be surprised if Hux has the survivors collected together and is preparing them to go after my mother and her base. It's just a matter of moving them to a different ship and making a few quick plans."

Hermione's stomach tied in a knot at the thought of Poe and Leia at the base surrounded by aging equipment and a rather ragtag version of an army. In her mind's eye a large ship, sleek, powerful, and efficient, was preparing to come for them, and she wasn't sure how they would make it out of that alive. She wondered if Leia and Poe had decided to evacuate, to abandon the base and go try to hide somewhere a little safer until they were no longer being hunted or until the First Order forced them from that hiding spot to go scurrying like a rabbit trying to evade a hawk. Part of her mind wondered how much of the First Order's resources were going to try to find Kylo. Did Snoke care that his apprentice was missing, or did he sense an opportunity to deal another devastating blow to the Resistance and felt that it was too good an opportunity to let pass?

"Maybe we should run," she said softly. "If you and I were to expose ourselves, then to run, maybe we could draw their attention long enough to let the Resistance escape..."

"No," he interrupted firmly. "As you said, our allegiances are not going to suddenly shift due to our current circumstances. I am not willing to be hunted in order to let a few rebel fighters scatter off. It's war, Hermione, and sometimes leaders must live with the consequences of the decisions they have made. The rebels went after Starkiller..."

"To prevent it from going after them!" she snapped. "They were being targeted, and they were seconds away from being destroyed before Starkiller was destroyed first."

"There are still consequences. You don't need to know much about this war to know that when one side attacks the other side will retaliate."

She took a deep breath, but realized he was right, especially considering that the rebels seemed to be very outgunned even after the destruction of the First Order's main weapon. And she knew she now had decisions to make. If her mission really was to help Kylo turn away from the Dark Side she was first going to have to convince him to turn away from a very powerful organization headed by someone for whom he still held some level of reverence. Without knowing much about the First Order, and even less about Snoke, this would be no easy feat, but she felt sure that this was why she was here, why they were connected in a way that even he didn't seem to understand. To turn him she would have to gain his trust, and, more importantly, unseat Snoke as his main motivator. She tried to keep her breathing as even as possible, lest he feel the panic starting to bubble up inside her, but the way he tilted his head gave away that she hadn't been as successful as she hoped.

"You're afraid," he noted. "Not of the fight," he continued, eyes squinting as she felt as though her every thought was suddenly written upon her chest as bright and large as a theater marquee. "You've been through fights, by now you know how to use any fear that they cause to your advantage. No, you're afraid of something else." He stepped towards her, reaching towards her face, gently pressing the pads of his fingertips to one side. "Failure," he said softly.

"I've always been afraid of failure," she admitted. "We have this creature where I'm from, a boggart. No one knows what it really looks like, because it always takes the shape of what you fear the most. And mine always showed me failing."

"You think that if you fail to help me, to _save_ me, that you are going to cause the Resistance to lose the war," he murmured.

She swallowed and nodded.

"Do you really think that what side I fight for will be the deciding factor in this war?"

"I feel like I have to have a _purpose_ here," she replied. "And I think I know that purpose, but if I'm wrong I fear that I will watch the Resistance fail."

"Are you really that invested in them?" he questioned, then his brow furrowed as a few images flashed through her mind. "You care for some of them, especially that pilot."

"Besides you they're the only people I've known since I got here, and they've shown me kindness. It's hard not to care for them. But they aren't the only ones here I care for," she said, reaching up to take his hand. "I want to help you, Ben. I want to give you a future, but I can't see you having much of one if you return to Snoke and the Dark Side, because I've seen what the darkness does to people. It consumes them, twists them into some perverted version of who they once were, and once they're far enough in it's nearly impossible to return."

"Nearly impossible?"

"Would I even be trying here if I didn't think there was some possibility that you are not completely lost to the Dark Side? Do you think I ever would have taken those wards down if I thought you couldn't change?"

She could feel his emotions flickering, from joy, to fear, to excitement. She decided to press her luck and gently press her lips against his again, and she felt him relax into her. The road to trusting each other would be long, and she knew with their personalities it would be volatile, but in her heart she knew that if she stayed the course that he could still turn from the Dark Side, and that his turning could change the bleak looking fate of the galaxy.

XXXXXXX

Later that evening Kylo offered to cook. Hermione, wanting to be able to sit outside without feeling guilty, decided to start the monumental task of cleaning up what she could of the dead things. She moved through the forest, vanishing piles of insects and animals, her stomach turning with each wave of her wand. She found herself apologizing to the creatures under her breath, saying she had never meant for their lives to be taken for hers, that she was horrified at what had happened, but inside her head she still couldn't place the blame on Kylo for the act. Hadn't she felt a moment, once she had thought Harry had died, where she would have done the same thing in order to bring him back? Hadn't she wished that she could pull life from anywhere, from everywhere, including herself, and give it to him? Had she grown up learning to use the Force rather than magic might she have tried the very same thing, not thinking about what might happen to the living things around her, just hoping to save her friend?

She wondered how different magic really was from the Force. She and Kylo had some similar abilities, though she mostly relied on her wand for things like summoning whereas he could do it with just the wave of a hand. He didn't seem able to conjure things or make them disappear as she was able to, merely manipulate the things around him, including people's minds. She knew when he had touched her face earlier that the gesture was not tender, he could feel him intruding her thoughts, trying to find answers that she might not be willing to say aloud. She had let him then, not put up the occlumency shields she had started constructing when she learned Harry was supposed to be learning the subject, because she had been curious to see what he could see, how far he was willing to push her mind, and how he used the information, but also in that moment she had seen the limits of that very power, seen him using it to enter unwilling minds with the force and finesse of a charging bull, forcing memories and thoughts to come to him and taking them despite their owner's attempts to keep them away. She saw his frustration that he was unable to force Rey's mind to bend to his, felt his twinge of fear and doubt when they wouldn't. She wasn't sure if he knew the information he was giving her though their connection as he worked on her mind, and she felt no need to alert him to the fact that their connection went both ways. If he tried it again she was determined to nudge back, to see if she could enter and manipulate his mind in the same way he did hers merely through his physical or mental connection.

As she became lost in her thoughts the motions she made with her wand became automatic, clearing bodies from her path without a second thought, and giving the edge of her wards a healthy berth. She was sure when she came here that she had warded their transport well enough, and that Snoke was still distracted enough, that she had essentially caused Kylo Ren to disappear without a trace. That was evidenced by the fact that no troops from the First Order had shown up to come fight for him, no ship had even flown over indicating that he knew the planet if not the exact location. But she was aware that enough time had passed that her guard must be up, that a wrong move may spell disaster.

It happened as she was contemplating moving the wards closer to the tent to give the forest a chance to recover. The smell of fresh water overtook her, and she could see a beautiful stream just outside the boundaries. Just on the other side of the wards everything was still alive, lush and green, just the quick hints of movement indicating that there were animals close to the stream who were aware of her presence and trying to keep from her sight. She stepped up to the very edge of the wards, trying to put as much of the brown tinged scene of death surrounding out of her sight as possible, wanting to revel in the beauty of the planet for a moment. The rocks she was standing on were uneven and slick with rotting moss. She lost her footing and fell forward, though the wards, landing on a soft blanket of thick grass within arms reach of the stream. She froze, torn between scrambling back through the wards, and enjoying the scene for just another moment more. When nothing happened immediately she cautiously stood, looking around as though she expected an ambush, and stooped to put her fingers into the clear running water. A few blue and green fish-like creatures came to explore her wiggling appendages, and she played with them a moment before she smiled as she straightened, ready to return to the safety of the wards. But just as she stepped forward she heard the voice.

"There you are, child," Snoke's wretched voice echoed inside her head and sent ice through her veins. She ducked into the wards, and immediately his presence disappeared, but she knew the damage had been done.


	11. XI

"Ben!" she shouted, running towards the tent. "Ben!" she called again as she burst through the entrance, crashing into him.

"What's wrong?" he asked, wrapping his arms around her.

"Snoke knows where we are," she replied breathlessly.

"How?" he asked in surprise.

"I fell outside the barrier," she replied. "I heard him in my head."

"Then we don't have a lot of time," he said moving to the tent opening and looking outside, scanning the sky, then turning back to her.

"It was only a second," she replied apologetically. "I… I don't know if he knows you're here."

"He's smart enough that he's going to assume so," Kylo replied softly. "How else would I have been able to disappear so effectively?"

"We have some time," she muttered. "They can't get into the wards."

"Yes, but once they're here we can't get out, either," he replied. "We could last, what, a few weeks on the food we have here? He's patient. He'll wait. And he'll park a Destroyer above the planet to kill anyone who tries to come help."

"Then what do we do?" she asked.

"Will you leaving break the wards?"

"No. They're designed to keep people out, including by magic. That won't end with me leaving, unless I do so by death. But even the strongest wards will fail against enough power. I don't know how powerful Snoke is, but if he is powerful enough and relentless enough he could probably get through."

"Then you run," he said softly, running a thumb over her cheek. "Leave me in here and go."

"What about you?"

"If he wants me he'll have to come down and get me. That'll give you enough time to get somewhere safe and hide again."

"And if he doesn't come down? Or if he can't break the wards? Do you just die in here?"

"It's a risk," he murmured, but doubt crossed his mind.

"What if we both run? I'll have to take down the wards to get you out, but…"

"If you take down the wards the rebels will make you for a traitor and they'll kill you if you ever return to them," he said firmly.

"Then we run away!" she snapped. "We run, find somewhere else, and hide together. You don't need to go back to Snoke."

"So we can go through this again and again, moving every time we run low on food or supplies? Constantly trying to stay one step ahead of Snoke and the rebels when they find out you've run off with me? I will not live that life, Hermione."

She bit her lip. "I am _not_ going to just give you back to Snoke," she said determinedly. "There has to be another way."

"Another way?" he scoffed, moving back to the flap of the tent, looking out, then up. "Come here, Hermione," he ordered.

Cautiously she walked forward, sticking her head out of the tent.

"Look up," he demanded.

She did so, and her stomach dropped as she saw a ship sitting high above them.

"We're going to be surrounded in a matter of minutes," he muttered. "They may not be able to get in, but they'll have us effectively trapped. We can survive some time, I'll give you that, but how long do you think before we run out of supplies? You can stay, you're committing a very slow form of suicide. If you run now, while he is still far away and still dealing with the fallout from Starkiller, you can get away. Make it so they know I'm still here and he'll focus on trying to get me, and that'll give you time to escape."

"That seems insane," she replied softly, pulling them back inside the tent and crossing her arms while staying close to him. "It would be just as easy for me to hide both of us."

"But if he gets me I can convince him that you're not worth looking for. You can go back to the rebels, they could use someone of your talents right now."

"But if you die he'll hunt me down and kill me for the effort."

"Then break the wards once you're free of them," he replied. "I'll go back and convince him you're not as big a threat as you appeared, and he'll leave you alone."

"I doubt that," she replied. "And as soon as I make trouble for the First Order he'll know you were lying, and I can't imagine that ending well for you."

"You don't need to worry about me," he shook his head.

"I'm going to," she said softly. "Because I still believe that you could change the tide of this war."

"Neither one of us will if we're both dead," he pointed out.

She bit her lip as she remembered something, and reluctantly she pulled his lightsaber out of her bag. His eyes went wide as she did, and he looked from the weapon to her face.

"We could fight," she said softly. "Between my magic and your abilities I'm sure we could take down whoever comes down here to get us."

He didn't say anything, but slowly he held his hand out, palm open and up. For a long moment she studied his face, locked eyes with him, looked for any sign that she was about to make a monumental mistake, but hesitantly she lifted the lightsaber and placed it into his hand. For a moment he just looked at it, then his fingers closed tightly around it, he lowered it to his side.

"To what end?" he asked softly. "Say we do fight and take down the first wave that comes down, then what do you want to do? That's a declaration, that both of us are willing to fight the First Order, and I can promise that we would not be able to fight the next wave he sends at us after that. He won't even bother sending soldiers, he'll send something like a Dreadnought to completely scorch the face of this planet until everything on it is dead. I can stop some fire, but nothing of that magnitude, and I'm assuming you have a similar limitation."

"The resistance…" she started.

"Will never trust me," he interrupted.

"I'll reason with them."

"They barely trust you, and if you show up with me in tow claiming I've seen the light and I'm fighting for them now I'm sure they would trust you even less, or they'll consider you an easily deceived fool." He closed his eyes, pulling her to him so he could press his forehead to hers, and she closed her eyes as well and placed a hand on his chest. "I admire your spirit, Hermione. You have fought to your end before, and I don't doubt you would do it again, but I am not worth your death. I will not pick an option that has a high probability that you will die."

"Then what should we do?" she asked in exasperation.

"You run," he ordered. "Break the barriers when you do."

"No!" she nearly shouted, pushing back from him so she could look him in the eye. "You want me to just let you go back to the First Order?"

"Do you trust that I have a plan?" he asked.

"No!" she shook her head.

He chuckled in spite of himself. "I have an idea, but I need to know you're safe. If I'm distracted worrying about you Snoke will know it and I'll never stand a chance."

Her mind raced, mostly thoughts of how she shouldn't trust him at all. Anyone with eyes could see this as merely a ploy to get back to the First Order and back to his former station. But part of her felt a strong desire to trust him. She had given him his weapon back. He could have tried to fight her. She had told him that her death would break the wards. He must not have been lying when he said he wanted her alive. A sound outside drew her attention, and cautiously she walked out of the tent flap. The wards extended far enough into the woods that she didn't see anything immediately, but a moment later three ships passed slowly overhead, landing not too far from the spot where she had fallen through the wards. Glancing back at Kylo she saw his jaw set as he watched the craft. Slowly and silently she crept forward towards the edge of the wards, and stopped when she saw the three craft come into view. Just on the other side, where the planet was still alive and beautiful, dozens of the white armor clad troopers were exiting the craft and starting to move through the forest. She watched as one walked directly towards them, running into the barrier and falling back. Another quickly came forward, reaching out until it's hand was stopped by the wards. It moved its hand back and forth, running along the barrier as if it were a physical wall, and it started walking towards her right, hand pressed against the barrier. Mechanical chatter sounded around them, letting Hermione know the Troopers had figured out how they were hiding, and within seconds one shot their blaster at the invisible barrier, the blast causing a wave effect upon impact with the barrier.

"You're going to have to make it look like there was a fight," Kylo said softly.

"Why?" she asked.

"If you just left and dropped the wards and I am standing here alone with my weapon it's going to be suspicious. As you said we have enough food to last for a while. Those wards should hold against their firepower. You have time to get a signal out to the rebels if you want, they'll be expecting it and listening for it. But if there was a fight, if I managed to overpower you and you fled to save your life, it would be realistic that you didn't send up a call for fear of getting someone killed or of drawing them to you. But no one will believe that unless it looks as though there was a struggle. There's no way you could have contained me even this long without being very powerful, and there's no way you would flee before fighting."

"Right," she sighed, turning and heading back towards the tent. She waved her wand as she approached, ripping a large hole in the side and causing the whole thing to lean precariously before she entered.

"What after?" she asked as she pocketed the communicator Poe had given her before upending a chair and smashing the table.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"This plan you supposedly have? What happens after you go back to Snoke?" she said, swiping her wand and destroying the kitchen, sending smoldering food packets scattering across the floor. "Use that, by the way," she added, nodding towards his weapon. "Not much, enough to make it obvious that you getting that back is what caused me to run."

"I'm not sure," he admitted. "There's a very good chance it won't work, and I'll wind up dead."

She turned and looked at him, but he wasn't looking at her. Instead he activated his lightsaber and swung it into the wall, leaving a long, burned gash, before he used it to slice a chair in two.

"So you're going to go die?" she asked.

His hand holding the saber lowered. It scorched the floor, but he didn't seem to notice. "Don't concern yourself with my death, Hermione."

"I obviously have already," she shot back.

"If I promise I'll try not to die?"

"I won't believe you, but I don't have much of a choice here. I've already destroyed much of our remaining food," she replied sadly.

He watched her for a long moment, then stepped forward, pressing his fingers to her temple. She felt him pull at her thoughts, looking for something, but not trying to force it to the forefront. She relaxed her mind, let him look, and when she closed her eyes she could see the two of them standing in a dark stone room that looked oddly familiar though she could not place the vague shapes around them.

"You still believe I'm worth saving," he muttered matter-of-factly.

"There are very few people I ever would think are beyond saving," she replied. "But, yes, I do think you still have a chance. I still feel the light inside you."

He ran his thumb over her cheek. "I shall do my best by you," he promised.

She sighed and swallowed hard, wanting desperately to believe his words. She felt his lips ghost hers one more time before the sounds of several blasters rang out and she could feel their impact shake the air inside the wards.

"Go," he ordered.

She looked into his eyes and nodded one more time. She tapped the top of her head to cast a disillusionment charm, and felt it trickle over her. Then she pictured a small copse of trees she had seen as she had been setting up the outside wards, turned on the spot, and appeared in the midst of them. The 'pop' of her Apparation drew the attention of a couple Troopers nearby, who scanned the area before moving on. She took a few deep breaths, then with a slashing motion she shattered the wards. Visible cracks appeared, through which the brown, lifeless forest could be seen, and as they widened eventually the tent became visible through the trees. The Troopers called out for each other as they moved into the suddenly-accessible area, and a moment later Kylo, who had mussed up his hair and clothes a little, came storming from inside the tent, lightsaber still active by his side.

"The girl is gone!" he announced harshly, and at the anger in his words the Troopers wisely slowed and kept a wide berth.

"Shall we go look for her?" one asked, hesitation evident even though the mechanical filter in his helmet.

"No, that rebel scum has ways of getting away, and she'll have fled as far as possible already," he nearly growled, and she wondered if she was imagining the strain in his voice as he tried to make it convincing. He turned back to the tent and brought the saber down in a violent arc, cutting the support and canvas near the front in two. A couple more swings and the tent was reduced to debris in the middle of a dead field, and she realized he was destroying evidence. If those Troopers had entered the tent they would know that there was much more to her than just someone who was strong with the Force.

"Take me to Snoke!" he commanded sharply, and the Troopers made way as he stormed through their midst towards their transport ship. Hermione remained perfectly still as she watched the other Troopers hasten to comply, climbing aboard after him and lifting up into the sky. She sat, back against a tree, and watched the transport climb ever higher until it was out of her sight. A few minutes later the giant ship turned, moved slowly forward for a moment, then disappeared into a streak of light. She waited a few minutes, making sure no other ships would suddenly appear in the sky. She wondered if the rebels had any way of intercepting First Order communications, if they knew she had failed and that Kylo Ren had returned, but no ships appeared in the sky to come looking for her, so she assumed that if they did know they were disappointed enough to not want to come to her rescue.

Tentatively she got out the communicator and pressed a button on it. "Poe?" she asked, surprised how scratchy her voice sounded and realizing how tight her throat and chest had been since she heard Snoke's voice again.

For a long moment nothing happened, and she was becoming more and more convinced that the rebels knew and wanted nothing to do with her, before finally there was a burst of static followed by Poe's voice, "Hermione?"

"Yes, it's me," she replied.

"Are you alright?" he asked, concern evident in his voice.

"Not really," she confessed. "Kylo Ren is… he overpowered me," she said, stomach dropping at the lie. "He got away and got back to the First Order. I had to flee."

"Are you hurt?" he asked.

"No. But the tent and supplies have been destroyed."

"Damn. Well, I'm going to need you to hold tight for a little bit, we're having a bit of an issue up here."

"What's going on?" she asked.

"The First Order is right on our heels," he said bitterly. "They managed to find a way to track us even during light speed. There's not much left of us right now, and we're running low on fuel."

"Oh, my God," she whispered.

"Don't worry 'bout me, Granger," she could practically see his lopsided smile. "I'm going to try to contact a friend to come pick you up. Is it safe to go back to where your tent was?"

"Yes, they're gone."

"Alright. I'll do my best. Stay hidden until then, and I'll send word for you once we're out of this mess, alright?"

"Be careful, Poe," she replied nervously.

"Don't worry about me," he repeated firmly. "I've gotten out of worse messes than this."

"I'm still going to worry. That's the kind of person I am."

"I know. I'll see you soon, Hermione."

"See you soon, Poe," she muttered before stashing the communicator back in her pocket. She went back to the tent and started shifting things around with her foot, seeing what survived the fake fight. She managed to scavenge a tin of biscuits and a couple of fantasy books Bill had left inside, but most of what she could find was damaged. The tent hadn't been designed to have a weapon like a lightsaber run through it from the outside. She took the largest bit of canvas she could find and pulled it back into the living part of the forest, fastening it to a couple trees for a makeshift shelter as she sat to wait for Poe's friend.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Snoke watched as Kylo stormed from the room. His view inside his apprentice's mind had been enlightening, but also very concerning. He was highly disappointed in Kylo, first getting defeated by a girl with no fighting experience on Starkiller, then having another girl take him prisoner and hold him so effectively. Had that girl, Hermione he discovered her name to be, not made the mistake of leaving the protection of her hiding spot there was a good chance he might never have found Kylo, though at the moment he wasn't sure that getting his apprentice back was a good thing. He had lost part of Kylo to Hermione, he knew that within moments of being connected to him once again, but it was only when Kylo returned to his throne room that he realized the depth of the young man's connection to her. Snoke had drawn young Ben Solo away from his parents and uncle by offering understanding and a place to explore and gain his power. Just a little taste of that had hooked Ben, but he still fought for some time until, much to Snoke's pleasure, Luke Skywalker had made his epic mistake. From that moment on Ben became Kylo, and he clung to Snoke's teachings, desperate for any kind of connection with someone who would be willing to nurture his connections to the Dark Side. And, until the events on Starkiller, that connection had been enough. But this girl, this powerful outlier who seemingly appeared out of thin air, was now threatening Kylo's ties to Snoke, because she offered something Snoke never could: compassion, and a physical connection. There was no way Kylo could hide his physical desires for the girl, though he tried to present them in such a way that made it appear that he merely wanted her for the power she could bring to their side. No, there was a tie there, much deeper, something he could not sever on his own except in one way.

The girl had to die.

He was sure Kylo expected this from him, and would keep her away until he thought it safe. It would take a long time to convince his apprentice that he meant no harm to the girl, and the longer he took the stronger the bond between Kylo and Hermione would grow. No, he would have to find a way to get to the girl and kill her soon, while their bond was still young, tentative, and weak. He would ask General Hux to send out his best men looking for the girl, to find her and dispose of her as quickly as possible, though he knew that the girl's power was strong enough it would take a large group to take her down. His only other hope for her quick death was that she cared enough for the rebels they were currently after that she would come to assist them, and die with them. It was frustrating to him that he wasn't entirely sure what she thought because she was so skilled at blocking him from her mind, another reason she needed to be quickly eliminated. He could not have such a wild card running around on the loose to attack without warning. Still, he had to make a backup plan lest Kylo become unpredictable with the thought of her getting killed.

So he quickly settled on connecting his apprentice's mind with that of the other young girl, the one who couldn't keep Snoke from her mind. Kylo's weakness was a need for a connection, and perhaps this other girl would provide it, or at least enough of it to deter his mind from his thoughts of Hermione. If there was another viable option for him to form a bond he would unconsciously hold tight, and when he did Snoke could manipulate the two of them together.

And so he set forth on his plan, reaching out to the young girl's mind and carefully tying it to Kylo's, giving just enough of a connection that something may build but neither would suspect. Once he had done that he reached out, looking for Hermione's mind, and was frustrated when he could not find her. She was dangerous, and she needed to be taken care of, though he supposed it wouldn't hurt to wait until he had finished off the rebels they were pursuing. They were so close…


	12. XII

The day passed slowly. Hermione watched as the forest around her grew dark, and she tried to enjoy the sight of the glowing bugs lighting up around her, but the ever-growing pit of worry in her stomach made happiness pretty much impossible. She desperately wanted to call Poe again, but figured he had much bigger problems on his hands than trying to save her from her relative safety, and she kept quiet. As darkness settled around her she considered trying to fashion the torn bits of canvas into a new shelter of sorts, convinced her stay her might last much longer than usual, but as she was trying to will herself to stand up a ship flew overhead, circled around, and landed in the clearing next to the destroyed tent. A woman with olive skin and short-cropped blue hair came down the runway, scanning around with a blaster in hand before deciding it was safe enough to store the weapon. She unclipped a small lantern from her belt and shined it down around at the debris before scanning the woods around her again. After a moment debate she called, "Hermione? Hermione Granger? My name is Aliza, Poe sent me."

Hermione tapped her wand to her head again, lifting the Disillusionment charm before standing and walking towards the woman.

"Hermione?" Aliza asked as she approached.

"Yes," Hermione nodded.

A bright smile crossed the woman's face. "Good to meet you," she nodded. "Glad to see you in one piece. Poe told me to get here as quickly as my ship could, he said he wasn't sure you were safe."

"I got out of there quickly and hid in the forest once Kylo got his lightsaber back," she said, trying to keep her face from betraying the lie.

"You must be something powerful if he wasn't able to get you without it," she sounded impressed. "I've heard stories, those Force guys are no joke. I heard Vader was rather fond of choking people who upset him, he used the Force to do it so he didn't even need to touch them."

Hermione remembered the moment when Kylo first woke up in the tent, how his fingers curled on air, and realized that he had been trying to do that to her. Unconsciously her fingers rubbed her neck and she swallowed to hide a wince. "How much trouble is Poe in?" she asked to change the subject.

Aliza's face fell. "I don't think they're going to make it out of this one," she said softly. "Their ship has almost no fuel and they can't escape by jumping to light speed because somehow the First Order can still find them. Right now they're just far enough away to not get blown out of the sky, but they're going to run out soon enough, and if something doesn't change drastically before then…" she trailed off looking sad.

"Can you get me to them?" Hermione asked. "I could try to use a refilling spell on the fuel tanks…"

If the casual mention of magic was a surprise to Aliza her face didn't show it. Instead she shook her head twice. "No. Poe gave me strict orders not to let you anywhere near them. They have Snoke on their tail…"

"What?" Hermione's cry was so loud a nearby bird took off into the night sky.

"Yes, he's there, and I'd bet Kylo Ren is back there by now, too. Poe told me that, under no circumstances, are you to go to that ship."

"Where are we going to go, then?" Hermione asked.

"An old base of the rebellion," she said, starting back up the ramp of the ship. "There's not much left, just pockets here and there, but this one has about fifty people. My husband and I have been living there a while, and there's been an influx of people since Starkiller. People are getting scared enough to want to join the fight."

"But if I can help the rebels…" Hermione started again, climbing aboard the ship as the ramp closed behind her.

"Poe said no," she replied firmly.

"Poe doesn't know what I can do," she shot back. "I can put a permanent refilling charm on those tanks, meaning they can run until they can figure out how to get away without being followed."

"It's too dangerous," she shook her head. "The moment we get anywhere near them the First Order is going to blast my ship to pieces. I might be pretty experienced when it comes to maneuvering around things, getting supplies to the surface of difficult planets is my job, but there's only so much maneuvering you can do to get away from a couple hundred TIE fighters. You seem like a nice girl and all, but I'm not willing to die for you, and I'm not going to go somewhere where I'm going to get us both killed. Poe said you could help us win this war, and told me to get you somewhere safe. That's what I'm going to do."

"What if you took us in light speed in front of the rebel ship, and you can pass me off to them and get out of there while you're still out of their range."

"Listening isn't your strong suit, is it?" she turned and raised an eyebrow.

"Is there someone who might be willing to take me there?" she asked.

"Did you not hear me?" she sighed, dropping into the pilot's chair. "I promised Poe I was going to get you to safety. Not to someone who is going to take you right into the middle of the slaughter. I'm taking you to the rebels who you can _actually_ help, Hermione."

Hermione dropped into the chair behind her as the ship lifted off the ground. She fingered the communicator in her pocket, wanting to call Poe and force him to tell Aliza to take her to their ship, but she knew he would never do that, and right now his focus needed to be on his current situation. But she couldn't just abandon all those on that ship, not when she might have just let Kylo Ren back into play against them. Feeling bile rise in her throat she pointed her wand at the back of Aliza's head.

" _Imperio_ ," she whispered, and she felt the magic flow from her wand down her arm, and she could feel Aliza coming under her control. "Take me," she ordered.

Aliza spun the ship around so fast Hermione nearly fell off her chair. A moment later they launched forward into light speed. Hermione squeezed her eyes shut, she liked travelling at light speed about as much as she liked flying in general, only opening them as the ship lurch again as it slowed suddenly.

"What the bloody hell…?" she asked as she surveyed what was before her. There was no large ship in sight, instead smaller ones were heading towards a small planet. But she could tell something was very wrong. Between them and the small ships was a large debris field, filled with floating bits of metal and what looked to be the remains of the beings aboard those ships. Her blood ran cold as she surveyed the very few surviving ships descending towards the planet, and realized something must have destroyed the other ships. She jumped out of her chair and rushed to the back of the ship, and looked through a small window. Behind her the biggest ship she had ever laid eyes on listed to one side in two pieces as another debris field floated around it. She could see flashing lights and what even looked like some flames on the massive ship, and the ships around it seemed to be stopping to figure out what was going on with the large ship.

"Follow them," Hermione ordered as she returned to the front, pointing to the small craft she was sure contained the rebels. Aliza did, piloting down to the surface of the planet. Hermione had her land just outside the large, man-made looking cave that the rebels had disappeared into. She exited the ship, and walked towards the giant doors, turning when she was a safe distance away.

"Go to the other rebels," she ordered, and moments later Aliza's ship lifted into the sky, going to light speed as soon as it was out of the atmosphere. Moments later Hermione felt her spell break, but she knew she couldn't worry about what Aliza would do when she realized Hermione was no longer aboard her ship. Instead she turned and started jogging into the cave.

"Hermione!" a voice called as she stepped into the shadows. A moment later Poe's arms wrapped tightly around her, and she hugged him back fiercely, thankful he was alive. "What are you doing here? I told Aliza to get you to safety."

"Don't blame her, I forced her to bring me here," Hermione replied.

He let her go and took a step back, looking at her sadly. "You shouldn't be here."

"But I am, so let's not get stuck on 'shouldn't' because I'm not leaving," she replied. "What _happened_ up there?"

"What happened was a slaughter," Leia's voice preceded her entrance from a dark corridor. "The First Order was doing a good job of wiping us out when one of our own decided to sacrifice herself."

"By going lightspeed into Snoke's ship," Poe added when he saw confusion flash across Hermione's face.

"Oh," Hermione muttered. "So that's why that big ship was in two pieces," she added more to herself than to anyone else.

"What happened with you?" Poe asked.

Hermione could feel Leia's eyes on her, and found herself unable to meet the older woman's gaze. "I let my guard down," she admitted, feeling color flood her cheeks. "I made a mistake and that was enough."

They both looked at her, waiting for more, and she shifted her weight nervously and bit her lip before adding, "Snoke found out where we were. Between the Storm Troopers surrounding us and Kylo on the inside of the tent I didn't see any good way forward, so I fled."

"Hey," Poe reached out to tuck a finger under her chin and lift it so he could look into her eyes. "You did what you had to. Nobody is going to blame you for anything, a lot of us are just happy you were able to keep him away as long as you did."

Hermione swallowed and nodded. Poe left to continue trying to discover what supplies and weapons they had that they could salvage, but Leia stayed, watching Hermione as though she knew the younger woman was not being truthful. Hermione opened her mouth to say something, but couldn't think of anything she could say to Leia, and she closed it and walked off under the guise of exploring the cave as well. But she had only gotten a few steps when she felt something. It was like the very air was in upheaval, a sudden and dramatic shift all around them that no one else but Leia seemed to notice. Instinctively Hermione seemed to know that something huge had just happened, something that would change the course of coming events.

"What is it?" she asked Leia.

"A disturbance in the Force," she replied. "One almost as big as your arrival."

"What does it mean?"

"I wish I knew," Leia replied softly. "I wasn't the one who trained in all that. I knew enough to trust my instinct when something like this happens. The last time I felt something like it was when Han…" she trailed off with a hard swallow.

"You don't think Ben…?" Hermione asked.

It was only after Leia's eyes went wide that she realized that she had called Kylo by his given name. Leia studied her for several long moments before cautiously replying, "No. I'm his mother, so I'm connected to him in a way I was not connected to Luke or Han. He's still out there right now."

"But he's going to come down here," Hermione didn't need to form it as a question.

"It would not surprise me," she said, looking intensely at Hermione's face, studying for her reaction. "If you must flee again, no one will think poorly of you."

Hermione knew then that Leia knew that Hermione and Kylo were closer than either would be willing to let on, that there was some connection between the two of them, though she wasn't sure if that mean the General trusted her more or less than she had five minutes before. She gave Leia a weak smile and walked off, wanting to get away from Leia's piercing gaze, but suddenly the air became still, and she became aware of a presence behind her. She turned around, but it wasn't the cold interior of the cave she saw. Rather it was a large, open room done up in black with the tattered remnants of red curtains around the giant window across from her. Several bodies clad in red armor were on the ground, and as she tried to process the scene a tall man wearing a black uniform, red hair askew and face reddened as though he were trying to catch his breath scurried in front of her. It was then she saw Kylo, standing in front of a throne, looking down at a body that looked as though it had been sliced into pieces.

"Ben?" she asked, the word barely audible, but he turned to look at her anyways.

"Hermione," he replied with a half smile, but his face quickly fell as he turned back to the body. "I killed Snoke," he told her.

Hermione took several cautious steps forward, coming to stand next to him, though after a while she turned away from the body.

"What happens…?" she started to ask, but he cut her off.

"Come join me," he said, looking into her face.

"What?" she asked.

"I'm in charge now, I am the leader of the First Order. I want you here."

"Then you're calling off this ridiculous war with the rebels?" she asked excitedly.

His face darkened and her stomach dropped. "I can't. Not now. Not when we're so close."

"But you killed Snoke!" she protested. "You said it yourself, you're in charge. What was the point of killing Snoke if you're not going to change course from what he wanted?"

"You don't understand," he snapped, moving so he was nearly pressed against her. "They think the girl killed Snoke, it's the only way I could get them to follow my orders. If they knew what really happened…"

"Then you would have no authority," she hissed. "And isn't that what you've wanted all along? Power?"

"Hermione…" he murmured, reaching for her, but she took a step back.

"You are going to continue this slaughter, you are going to kill your own _mother_ all for your power," she snapped. "I will have no part in sitting back and watching people get killed while you have the chance to stop it."

"You don't get it!" he shot back. "I do this, it's done. It's over. I can start over with the full force of the First Order behind me, I can change the course of the galaxy, make it run the way it should be run…"

"After wiping out everyone here," she interrupted.

"I can't be seen as letting what happened to Starkiller go unpunished."

"Yes, you could. But you're too cowardly. I told you the First Order needs fear in order to run, and you need fear in order to run the First Order. If you want to change things, start with that. I told you fear is no way to gain loyalty, but if you must use it to keep your power there will be no convincing you otherwise. Come down here and slaughter us all, I'll be waiting," she finished, turning and walking off.

The scene disappeared around her, and she was back in the cave, and she had to stop short to keep from running into Leia.

"That didn't sound like it went well," Leia said with a hint of a smile.

"I don't think he was expecting me to be quite as stubborn as I am," she replied.

"They're coming, aren't they?"

Hermione swallowed and looked around at the small group who were trying to scavenge what they could, trying to make quick repairs to old ships that needed much more work than could be done in such a small amount of time, and passing out limited weapons to those who could wield them best. "Yes," she replied softly. "And I will fight with you, but there's only so much magic can save us from."

"Can you get us out?" she asked.

"If you had a ship that could get past them, yes," she nodded. "But anything you brought here probably won't work, and it sure doesn't look like there are any good ships that were left here. Otherwise I could take you outside the cave, and hide you from their view, but with no food or other supplies and with Ben knowing that particular trick of mine all it's going to do is make our deaths more drawn out. I… I'll leave that choice to you, General."

"I will continue to hold out hope that someone will answer our calls," she said softly.

"Do you think anyone will?"

"I must have hope until the very end," she replied with a smile, then she turned and walked silently to the mouth of the cave to watch for the invasion. Hermione bit her lip, wanting to say something to encourage her, but nothing would come. She needed to busy herself, and she hurried over to where Poe was trying to fix one of the broken down ships in order to help. She cast _reparo_ charms on what she could, but some of the parts were so delicate that they fell apart from the force of the spell. But still she pressed on, needing to help, needing to occupy her mind.

There was a shout, and the large door to the mouth of the cave began closing. She watched as groups took positions as a ship came barreling towards them, and she climbed a ladder to gain a higher vantage point. When the ship turned out to be Finn, a girl she never met, and BB8 she felt a surge of happiness flow through her that was quickly quashed as she realized that it just meant three more things that would be killed when the First Order showed up. As C3PO announced there was no way out and someone else announced no one was responding to their distress calls a silence fell over the crowd, the silence that comes with a group of people starting to realize that there is no hope.


	13. XIII

"We're going to fight," Poe told her quietly as people resignedly started reaching for guns or climbing into ski speeders. "If we die we're going down fighting."

"Me, too," she nodded.

He smiled sadly at her. "We don't really have time to teach you how to use a weapon," he said.

"I know. I have my own weapon," she said, pulling her wand. "What do you need me to do?"

"They have a cannon they're going to use to blast a hole in the door. We need to get to that cannon, to disable it," he said. "It won't buy us forever, but it'll buy us some time, and maybe someone will change their minds and come help."

"Do you really think they might?" she asked in a whisper.

"It doesn't matter if I do or not, it only matters that _they_ think I do," he replied softly, nodding his head over his shoulder to the men and women getting ready for a fight. "Because then they will, too. If we've all lost hope there's no point in going out there, but if there's even the tiniest sliver of it we're going to use that to fight until the end."

"I can get to the cannon, but if there's a lot of people around it I won't be able to protect myself and disable it, because I'm not sure how to disable it and I'm not sure how effective my spells will be against it. But I guess if I'm going to go down, I might as well do it taking out their weapon."

"Don't worry about the cannon, we're going to aim for that. What would really help is to take out as many of their ships as possible, to get rid of some of the fire that's going to be coming our way," he said, pulling her to a small window covered by a thick flap. He pushed a button and the flap lifted just enough that they could see out to the flat before them, and the line of First Order troops and vehicles that were gathering. He didn't say anything as he placed a headset on her so she could hear the rest of the rebels.

"So, go for the animal looking ones?" she asked.

He chuckled. "Yeah, go for the animal looking ones," he repeated.

"Do the heads turn far?" she asked.

He looked at her, and his half smile suddenly widened. "They are somewhat vulnerable from the sides," he said.

"Well, then that's something, isn't it?" she replied, and he closed the window and started heading back towards the ski speeders.

"Wait until they come out and engage us," he told her. "They're going to have TIE fighters out there, but they'll be concentrating on us, at least until they realize what you're doing. Then you might need to move. Don't worry if you don't take it down, do your best and stay alive."

"I could say the same to you," she replied.

He pulled her into a tight hug. "I'll see you back here," he smiled as he ran off.

Hermione walked back to the window and pressed the button that opened it once more. She watched as men gathered in the trenches below, then as eerie silence fell as each side seemed to wait for the other to move first. She closed her eyes, and reached out with her mind, hoping to try to talk reason into Ben one more time. She felt the air around her shift, and opened her eyes to see him in front of her, looking surprised.

"You don't have to do this," she said, "but I'm not going to beg you not to."

He glared at her but didn't say anything.

"I just hope that whatever is left of Ben Solo in you realizes exactly what you are about to do, and that you might listen to that little bit of light left in you… yes, I still feel light. I think your mother has given up on it, but I still know it's there."

She suddenly heard noises and looked out the window to see the rebels opening fire as their ski speeders raced towards the line of First Order vehicles.

"That's my cue," she turned back to him, smiling, and she closed her mind off as she turned on the spot and Disapparated, landing just to one side of one of the giant AT-AT vehicles. Her arrival appeared to be unnoticed by those in the ships, and for a moment she contemplated putting a Disillusionment charm on herself, but decided against it. Kylo would know it was her as soon as someone noticed what she was doing, and then she would be targeted, visible or not.

" _Bombarda maxima!_ " she cried, aiming her first spell at the part where the leg of the vehicle met the body. At first it didn't look as though the spell had done much, just given the ship a good jostle and left a crater in the armor, but as the thing attempted to move forward that leg didn't seem to want to cooperate, and it dragged rather than moved forward. So Hermione hit the same spot twice more before the pilot seemed to realize what was going on, and by then it was too late. As he tried to move the vehicle around a fourth spell completely severed the leg, causing the whole thing to list precociously to one side. The pilot tried his best to move the back legs to turn the guns to face her, but she was already casting spells at the back leg and, with less stability to absorb the blast, the whole thing started to tumble over. She quickly Disapparated out of the way to a spot behind the fighting, and watched as the large vehicle came crashing down where she had been standing a moment before. The pilot of one of the TIE fighters had noticed what happened and passed by, laying down fire alongside the fallen AT-AT, shooting at something he didn't see but was sure was there, and he didn't seem to notice she had moved and pulled up to go rejoin the fight. So she got to work on the next AT-AT, this time starting from the back as she rushed forward to get a better shot at the front. This pilot had noticed his comrade go down and had started to turn, so Hermione took advantage and Apparated to the other side, standing under a Third AT-AT as she cast her spells rapid-fire. When she brought it down she started to turn her attention to the next when she looked over and saw the cannon starting to fire. Deciding to throw caution to the wind she started running that direction, but by that time ground troops had been deployed to try to stop the girl who was bringing down their vehicles. She was forced to put up a shield spell as blaster shots started firing at her, and she squinted through the debris flying around her to try to see where she might be able to Apparate to in order to get a good shot at the cannon.

"Fall back!" she heard Poe's voice order in her ear.

"I'm trying to get to it…" she started.

"You're going to get yourself killed," he replied. "Come back, Hermione, we can't lose you."

Letting off a frustrated noise she Disapparated back to the cave, immediately heading towards the spot where the ski speeders were coming in.

"I could have had it!" she shouted at Poe as he climbed out.

"They were swarming, and they knew that's where you were going," he shot back. "You took down two AT-ATs by yourself, we can't afford to lose you."

"You're going to lose me if they get in…" she was cut off as a powerful explosion threw them to the ground. Instinctively she put a shield charm over herself and Poe, protecting them from the raining debris until she felt it was safe to stand. Her heart dropped as she saw the giant hole in the door, and knew that it was only a matter of time before Storm Troopers would be flooding in.

"We need to see what's happening with Leia," Poe said, grabbing her hand and pulling her towards the communications room, but the mood in the room was somber.

"Our distress signal has been received at multiple points, but no response" Lieutenant Connix was saying.

"They've heard us, but no one's coming," Commander D'Acy continued.

Leia looked defeated and slowly sat, saying, "We fought till the end. But the galaxy has lost all its hope. The spark is out."

` "No, it's not," Hermione said, coming to stand in front of her. "Sometimes sacrifices must be made for the greater good. Sometimes the death of someone can be what re-ignites the spark in others. It may be over for us, but that does not mean it's over for everyone."

Leia smiled and placed a hand on her cheek. "Thank you for trying," she said softly, and Hermione knew she wasn't talking about fighting the First Order, but trying to reach out to Ben.

Suddenly a cloaked figure appeared in the doorway and walked towards them. Hermione took a step back as she realized the figure was Luke Skywalker. She watched as he sat with his sister and they talked quietly, but she could feel the anger towards him rise up in her chest. She clenched her fists and tightened her jaw as she fought to keep from displaying that anger outwardly, it would do them no good for her to let loose on an ally at this point. As Luke stood he looked at her, eyes meeting hers, and in that moment she felt like an open book, though she knew he didn't need to dig deep to know the cause of her anger.

 _"You're going out to meet him, aren't you?"_ she asked non-verbally.

 _"And there's no point in trying to stop you,"_ he replied.

" _You think this might give them a chance."_

" _So do you, or you wouldn't come with,"_ and she nodded in agreement. Without looking around because she didn't want to invite questions she straightened and followed him out the door and towards the hole in the cave door. Behind her she could hear Poe calling for her, and she turned to face him while trying to keep any hint of emotion from her face or voice.

"Activate it when you're safe," she said, tapping the tracker still on her wrist. "And count to ten. If I can come, I will. If I can't, leave while you still have a chance."

He looked at his own tracker, but by the time he looked back up she was already jogging to catch up to Luke. Her fear seemed to slip away from her as she made her way out onto the salty planet surface, matching Luke stride for stride as they both approached the advancing line of First Order ships. Suddenly everyone stopped in unison, and for a long moment the only motion anything made was the ships adjusting their aim towards her and Luke.

"You could have stopped this," she said softly.

"I could have, though I think you and I have very different ideas of how that could have been done," he replied. "You still have a chance to go. You should take it."

She shook her head.

"Would you listen to me if I told you not to fight him?" he asked evenly

"No, it…" she was cut off as an invisible force wrapped around her, rendering her unable to move and pulling her rapidly towards the advancing ships. As soon as she was out of range the ships opened fire, and with a herculean effort she was able to turn just enough to watch as dozens, maybe hundreds of rounds were shot into the ground where Luke had been standing. For a moment she felt monumentally foolish, she and Luke had barely lasted a minute before she was captured and he was killed, but then the smoke and debris settled to reveal Luke still standing there. Relief flooded over her until she heard the sound of Kylo's ship landing behind her. She felt him approaching and tried to calm the fear that threatened to rise inside her once again. He didn't stop as he walked past her, but he did look into her face, and to her surprise his look was pleading and torn. He didn't _want_ to hurt her, but the First Order wasn't going to forgive her actions anytime soon. But his face hardened as he looked back to Luke and stepped forward to challenge his one time teacher.

Sometime during their fight Kylo's hold over her fell, but she wasn't sure when as she was so riveted by the sight in front of her. For a moment she felt a wave of hope that she might not be the only one who didn't want Kylo dead, that thought he might be saved, but that hope disappeared as Luke did, and she found herself face to face with Kylo once more.

"Hermione," he said softly.

"You made your choice, Ben," she replied sadly.

"I didn't have much of one," he replied.

"Bollocks," she spat. "We all make choices, and you made yours. Congratulations, you proved me a fool once more."

"Hermione," he said, reaching out for her.

At that moment her tracker started flashing. He realized a moment too late what was going on, and his cry of "No!" along with his attempt to stop her were in vain as she Diapparated, landing hard on the floor next to Poe's feet aboard the Millennium Falcon.

"Go, go, go!" Poe shouted, and the ship rocketed forward.

XXXXXXXXX

Kylo sunk onto the floor of the control room of the abandoned mine. Troopers were hurrying through the cave, looking for where the survivors were, but he knew they were gone. Rey, Hermione… forever out of his reach. He picked up the small trinket off the ground, immediately recognizing it as what his father had hanging in the Millennium Falcon since before he was born. It was in that moment how truly alone he was. His father was dead, Luke as well, Chewbacca had shot him, Leia had given up on him, and Rey and Hermione, the last two people who had held out hope for him, had lost that hope and were now speeding away to hide out. Hermione had firmly closed her mind off from him, and even when he had reached out to Rey there was no response. The whole of the First Order was his, and yet he was more alone than ever.

Behind him General Hux sneered at the sight before him. The new Supreme Leader (there was annoyed edge to the words even in his own head) had cost them the most important victory of the day by insisting on facing what turned out to be nothing more than a vision. He had pulled the girl to safety before firing on his former mentor, and that was very problematic in Hux's mind. The girl was powerful, she had taken down two AT-ATs along with most of the men inside them on her own, and she seemed able to appear and disappear at will. She had been standing out in the open, every gun aimed right at her and the man standing next to her. Had they both been solid they should have both been blasted into microscopic pieces that would blend in with the blood red earth beneath the salt layer. But Ren pulled her to safety, there was no doubt about that in Hux's mind. The look on her face when she was pulled forward, the way Ren's hand had jerked, the way her movements seemed to take monumental effort once she had moved, all signs pointed to Ren having saved the girl. And it had cost him the chance to end the rebels. It should have ended that day, but here they were, their Supreme Leader on the floor, staring at a small gold covered trinket. The First Order needed strong leadership, not the mess on the floor. He knew he'd have to be very careful with his thoughts, his words carefully selected to only those whom he trusted the most, but something would have to be done about Ren.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Good to see you alive," Leia said with a sad smile as Hermione sunk onto the floor across from her, having spent nearly ten minutes surrounded by the survivors, marveling at her bravery and begging her to explain how she had made such a miraculous escape. She was exhausted, more emotionally than physically though her body was protesting the fight as well.

"Same to you," Hermione smiled back.

"Luke…"

"Wasn't really there," she interrupted.

Leia nodded. "But did you feel? He's gone."

"I'm still getting used to feeling this Force," she sighed. "Where are we going?" she asked.

"The place Aliza was going to take you," Poe announced, sitting next to Leia. "She's not too happy with your little trick, by the way."

"If it weren't for my little trick I would have been safe at home and where would you lot be?" she smiled.

"There'd be a couple more AT-ATs still in play," he gave her a crooked smile. "I didn't get to tell you how seriously impressive that was."

"Let's tone it down on the impressed talk, please," she said softly. "I fought the way I knew how to fight. I don't need anyone to think it was something extraordinary."

"But it was," he protested.

"Yes, but now the whole of the First Order knows what I can do. Next time they'll be prepared for it, send smaller, more maneuverable craft or target me with their ships. Don't expect me to be able to do anything like that again."

"You did it once. That was enough."

She exhaled slowly, closed her eyes, and leaned her head back against the wall behind her. Around her she could hear excited chatter, silent sobs from those who had lost loved ones, and beeping from droids. She focused on the soft hum of the engine under the din as she dozed off for a few minutes, but too soon she was awoken by a jolt as they landed. Everyone gathered the few things they had managed to scrounge up in their hasty departure, several people clutching small sacks to their chests like they were carrying babies. Hermione patted her beaded bag to make sure it was still there and stood, waiting in line to walk down the ramp and out of the ship.

It seemed a small group had heard about their fight and nearly miraculous escape, and had formed a semi-circle around the landing pad. When the group started climbing off several of the people gathered started clapping, then cheering them on. Behind her Hermione heard Poe whisper, "I told you, that's the spark," to Finn, and she tried to make a mental note to ask him what he meant later. The people's cheers seemed to attract others from inside the base buried deep in a mountain, and by the time she reached the outer part of the circle there was a crowd lining the path into the base, reaching out to give them high-fives or claps on the back or to just shake their hands. She had a suspicion that when the stories of how they won started to circulate she'd be getting much more attention than she wanted, and considered asking Leia and Poe if they could round her up a few of the grey uniforms to help her blend in. They had gotten to the end of the welcoming crowd and were starting to make their way into the base, where someone had told them they could go to the command center for debriefing and room assignments when she heard a familiar voice off to one side.

"There's a face I never thought I'd see again," it said.

She spun around to look at the speaker so fast that she knocked herself off balance, crashing into Poe, and Finn had to catch her to keep from falling. Still she couldn't even find the words to apologize or even look at them, her eyes widening as she felt her face draining of color as she confirmed the speaker was who she thought.

 _"Sirius?"_


	14. XIV

_"Sirius?"_ she cried, unable to believe her eyes.

"In the flesh, love," he smiled, opening his arms wide. She nearly knocked him over as she pounced on him, wrapping her arms tightly around him as he clung to her tightly.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I could ask you the same question," he said. "Come on, let's sit down and have a chat."

They said goodbye to Finn, who said he was going to check on Rose and get a rest. Sirius led her, Poe, and Rey down a flight of stairs and into a mess hall, where they sat at a circular table. Sirius introduced himself to the group as a bewildered Hermione could not stop staring at him.

"How are you here?" she asked. "You fell through the veil!"

"You didn't?" he looked at her in surprise.

"No, I… I don't know how exactly I got here," she replied, deciding not to tell him about what Ben, _no_ , she mentally corrected, _Kylo Ren_ , had done.

"That veil isn't what we think it is," he replied. "We think it's a portal between the land of the living and the land of the dead, and despite rumors to the contrary they pretty much believed the same thing here, but it's really just a passageway between here and there."

"Then why didn't you go back?" she asked.

"Many reasons," he sighed, his face falling. "The thing has gone dark since I went through, so I'm not sure if it would work for me. And it wasn't like I was in any physical shape to even try for a while. That spell Bellatrix hit me with nearly killed me. Did kill me, actually, but luckily there were people close by who saw me fall and got me to some medics who managed to get me back. Still, there was a couple months in there where I was awake only a few minutes at a time, if at all, and after that it took nearly a year to get back to the Sirius you know and love," he gave her a wink. "How is my dear cousin, by the way?"

"I'm assuming dead, along with her master," Hermione shrugged. "She killed me first, but the way the tides had turned it was only a matter of time before they both died."

"Wait, did you say she _killed_ you?" Rey interrupted.

"Yes. And I went to this place, like an in-between world, where I was given the choice of going on or going back to help someone else. When I chose the latter that's when I woke up here."

"How is that possible?"

"I'll let you know when I figure it out," she replied softly.

Sirius placed a hand on her arm to gain her attention again. "Harry?" he asked.

"Alive when I left," she said. "Though he survived that killing curse a second time."

Sirius let off a bark of laughter. "I bet that upset old Moldywart something fierce!"

"Did anything not?" she asked.

"How about old Moony, how did he fare?"

Hermione hesitated, and that was enough for Sirius to know, and his face fell. "Him, and Tonks," Hermione informed him gently. "They had gotten married. They just had a baby. And they went within a few seconds of each other."

Sirius sighed heavily and she could see his eyes were wet, but he refused to let any tears fall. "Who else?"

"Loads," she replied. "Fred Weasley…"

"What?" he interrupted in shock, and she nodded. "Not George though?" he asked, and she shook her head. He shook his head solemnly. "I always saw those two boys as a unit, I can't believe they're not anymore," he muttered sadly.

"Dumbledore," she continued.

"Not all that surprised about that one, actually. Thought the man would do something self-sacrificial or noble, something of that sort."

"That's a long story," she said before listing off a few more names as he sat in silence. "Snape… though I don't actually expect you to be too cut up by that one."

He sighed and hung his head. "Sitting in that hospital bed for that long, I had some time to think. Severus was a right nasty piece of work, I'm not going to deny that, but I need to claim partial ownership of it. I didn't want to admit he and I were a lot alike, both of us came from terrible families, both of us came in with few friends, that sort of thing. I should have recognized that, but I heard his preferred house and it was over. Don't get the wrong idea, I still hate the man, but he didn't deserve to die."

Hermione looked surprised, but thought of something. "Sirius, if you're fine now, why didn't you try to go back? Try to see if the veil would work for you?"

He let off a chuckle and there was a sparkle in his eye. "Well, by the time I was healthy enough to even consider it there were other considerations."

"Other considerations?" she raised her eyebrow.

"I couldn't abandon the pup," he beamed.

"Couldn't abandon…." Her eyes went wide with realization. "Sirius Black! You're a father?"

"Little James Remus," he nodded. "He's around here somewhere, probably driving his mum spare. I was on my way back from my lookout shift when you lot arrived, and I thought I'd give a cheer before retiring for the night. But that hair of yours is distinctive in any galaxy. Nearly floored me, seeing you here, but I guess if anyone from that world was going to come here and make trouble for the First Order it would have been you or Harry. You're good at that."

"What did she do where you're from?" Rey asked excitedly.

"Well, when I first met this young lady she was breaking me out of prison. I had been wrongfully imprisoned for twelve years, and Miss Granger, who was thirteen at the time mind you, knew my innocence. So she blew a hole in the side of the cell I was being held in and flew me out on the back of hippogriff."

Poe started laughing while Rey looked impressed, and Hermione felt her cheeks redden.

"This girl has been known to get out of a scrape or two. Brightest witch of her age, they called her, and she earned that title, though she generally used that knowledge to help break a rule or two."

"She's been a big help since getting here," Poe smiled at Hermione. "She managed to catch Kylo Ren…"

"That was you?" Sirius raised an eyebrow at her, but his smile grew wide quickly. "Of course that was you. Couldn't stop yourself when you got here? Had to jump right into the thick of things?"

"You know me, I took too much from Harry when I became his friend. I'm not happy if I'm not in over my head and have at least a half dozen people wanting me dead."

Sirius let off another barking laugh.

"You should have seen her on Crait," Poe continued admiringly. "Took down two AT-ATs by herself. I honestly thought she was dead when she and Luke Skywalker went out to face the entire First Order fleet by themselves, but she obviously got out of that one herself."

"Really?" Sirius raised an eyebrow, but the smile fell from his face. "Fancy a walk, Granger?" he asked, standing up.

When Hermione, Poe, and Rey all stood Sirius shook his head.

"Sorry, I mean for this to be a witches and wizards thing," he said apologetically, and, disappointed, Rey and Poe sat back down. Hermione trotted around the table to catch up to him as he went through a door and started down a set of stairs.

"Speaking of witches and wizards, why is it these people all seem to think my kind of magic is unique?" she asked and she followed him.

"I dropped my wand on the other side of the veil," he replied. "I can do some very basic wandless magic, moving small things around, warming and cooling food, that sort of thing. I've had a few people who think it's something to do with the Force, but I've heard enough stories about the people who use it to not want anything to do with all that."

"Couldn't you come back through and get a wand?"

"I didn't want to risk it," he replied. "No one knows very much about that veil, obviously, since everyone had it wrong until I fell through. I don't know if it's a one-way trip, and going back through would kill me. I don't know if you have to be mostly dead for it to work. I don't know if it's just our two worlds it connects, though I think it does because, in case you didn't notice, we've got a common tongue. I couldn't risk going back and getting stuck, or getting killed going through it…" he opened another door, which led to a cavernous room. There were tables and equipment scattered about, but there was no one inside and the equipment sat silent. On the far side of the room was an arch, nearly identical to the one in the Department of Mysteries.

"You brought me down here in case I wanted to try to go through without anyone else around," she muttered.

He looked at her, conflicted. "Not that I don't want you around, Granger," he said with a half-smile. "What were you keeping from me up there? Or, more accurately, what were you keeping from them?"

She sighed and looked around to make sure they were truly alone before telling him, "After I took Kylo Ren prisoner I was assigned to guard him on some isolated planet on the outer rim. He and I…" she trailed off, unsure she wanted to admit to anything out loud, but needing to speak to a familiar face. "He and I are connected in a way I don't think either of us understand. We see things about each other when we touch. It got…"

"Intense?" he offered.

"More than it should have been," she nodded. "I'm not like that, Sirius. I don't have any connection with someone that even resembles that and even if I did I never would have let it get as far as it did. It was so much so fast."

"But it obviously didn't last too long."

"Snoke found out where we were. He convinced me to run and let him go back, he said it was the way to keep me alive. And he went back and killed Snoke, and now he's Supreme Leader and I'm here, a bloody idiot."

"No, you're not," he said firmly.

"How could I not be? I misjudged him so completely…"

"Did you?" he raised an eyebrow. "I'm not going to say I'm an expert on the politics of this place, but Kylo Ren has been Snoke's enforcer for a long time now. Did everything Snoke asked of him, and anyone who got in the way quickly regretted it. But he made sure you got away alive? If the two of you have the type of connection you say he would know that leaving you alive would end poorly for his cause, and from what your friends say you made the First Order pay. There's got to be a reason."

"Even if there is I've made my decision. I thought, when I was alone with him, that the fight against the darkness that I came here for was to turn him away from it, but I was wrong. And now I'm in the big fight again."

"That you came here for?" he raised an eyebrow.

"When I died I was given the choice to move on or to help fight the darkness. I decided on the latter, thinking it would help me get home, and now I don't know what 'fight the darkness' really means. I thought it meant helping Ben, sorry, Kylo Ren, but I guess it's fighting the First Order with the Resistance."

"Don't be so black and white, Granger," he warned.

Hermione huffed and looked at the arch. Much like what Sirius had said the tattered veil looked dark, almost imperceptible. "I have the feeling it wouldn't let me go back," she said softly.

"It does look dark, doesn't it?" he muttered. "If you want my honest opinion, I think it's magical. I think it only works as a portal when there's a need. I was going to die back there, and it let me go through to a place where they kept me alive. I don't know what would happen if someone went through now, but I wouldn't be surprised if it went light again when you fulfilled your purpose here."

She turned to ask him more about his theory, but there was the sound of a door opening behind them. They turned to see Aliza walking in, a young boy on her hip.

"There's daddy," Aliza smiled, and little James Remus let off a happy noise and reached for Sirius, who scooped him into his arms and kissed his cheek.

"Aliza, this is…" Sirius started.

"Hermione Granger. That girl Poe had me go rescue yesterday."

"Hullo again," Hermione said awkwardly. "I'm sorry…"

"You're not, but it's okay," she interrupted with a smile. "Can't be mad at someone who helped get people out of there alive. Just none of the funny business again, alright?"

"Funny business?" Sirius asked.

"I needed a ride to Crait, and I kind of made her take me," Hermione confessed sheepishly.

"We really need to have a chat about you choosing better influences," he smiled. "Come on, let's get you settled in. The room next to ours is available, let's go see if we can get you in there."

As Hermione followed him out of the room she felt a twinge on the perimeter of her mind, and knew it was Kylo trying to contact her, but she refocused her mind of keeping up her Occlumency shields and was determined to keep him out for good.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

The room was small, usually used for storage but barren at the moment. It was tucked in the deep underbelly of the ship, almost as far away from the control room as possible. It took a long time for the participants of the covert meeting to arrive, each having to make up a plausible excuse for their absence, each checking over their shoulder in case they were followed. No one entered the room unless the hall was clear of people or droids, each afraid of what would happen if the meeting were discovered and their attendance was known. It was being held late at night, when they were sure the Supreme Leader had retired for the night, and each participant said a silent prayer that Kylo Ren was asleep and had no idea of what was going on.

General Hux was the last to arrive, surveying the small group as he entered. He had called the meeting through the most secret channels he could, carefully selecting the participants, inviting only those he was sure would have the same feelings as he, and even then only those who could help with his final plan. Twelve pairs of expected eyes fell on him as silence overcame the already quiet group.

"Our new Supreme Leader," he started carefully, measured, keeping any hint of emotion from his voice, and he paused to carefully gauge the looks of those around him. When he saw twelve knowing looks he felt safe to continue. "What happened on Crait could have been avoided."

There were several murmurs of assent, and a few head nods.

"The Supreme Leader let his emotions rule the day, and we lost the rebel fighters because of it."

"He should have blasted that girl with Skywalker," someone in the back said, and more nods followed.

"That girl is a weakness for him. He obviously cares for her," Hux continued, venom thick in the second sentence. "And she obviously is very powerful. As long as she's out there, the rebels have an upper hand, even more so if Ren would rather protect her than do what needs to be done."

Another round of nods and words of agreement.

"I have not helped build the First Order to let someone as emotional, unstable, and irrational as Kylo Ren destroy it with his tainted leadership. As long as that girl is out there, our leader's focus is going to be on finding her and bringing her to him, and not on our overall goals. The First Order will not survive Ren's reign. We need a leader who will not let matters of the heart cloud their judgement, who will make sure that our missions are complete at any cost. I will also note that history has not been kind to those who allow Force users to run their empires. Those concerned with the Force care more for destroying each other and taking power than running a successful regime that instills order throughout the galaxy. It is time, ladies and gentlemen, to decide what direction we are willing to allow the First Order to be taken in, and if we do not like the current path we must take action."

For a long moment no one seemed to want to move, so their eyes darted to each other looking for someone else to be the first. What Hux was talking about made sense, but they all knew what taking action would mean: committing treason against Kylo Ren, who would not hesitate to strike everyone in the group down if he got word of what was happening. Each knew that agreeing with Hux would be putting their lives on the line if they failed, but if they succeeded they'd be rid of Ren and his volatile temper.

"How do you propose we do this?" a woman sitting to Hux's right asked carefully.

Hux allowed himself a small smile as he noticed everyone's attention, and he knew they were all ready to follow him. "I have a plan, and I will need each of you for it," he said, sitting down.


	15. XV

Kylo stopped at the bottom of the ramp and looked around. The forest around him was quiet, though that didn't surprise him. By now he was used to things going still in his presence. He closed his eyes a moment and reached out, trying to feel her, but he could feel nothing. Not that he expected to find anything, Hermione was very good at keeping her position a secret. It had taken nearly a week for him to get any hint as to where she was, and even then it was only a chance sighting that brought him here to her. A smuggling freighter had spotted the small rebel ship as it stopped for fuel, saw the girl with a well known rebel pilot, and followed it as it made its way back to the planet where Hermione first appeared. Knowing the bounty on the escaped rebel fighters the captain of the freighter was quick to call it in, and was waiting above the planet for his reward. Hux suggested they send a group of their best Troopers to go scour the planet for her, but Kylo knew that if there was any chance of finding her that he must go himself. If she was back here it meant she was looking for a way to escape the galaxy, a way to get home, and he would not trust anyone else to find her before she found a way to leave him forever.

He moved forward, across the small clearing to where the rebel ship sat, waiting for its pilot to return. He ran his hand over the smooth metal, finding it cool to the touch. They had been here a while. He wondered if he might already be too late.

"Spread out," he ordered the Troopers who had filed out of the ship behind him. "Find the girl, and the pilot. Kill the pilot if you must, but she is to be brought to me alive."

With few words exchanged between them the Troopers split off into groups of two, heading off into the woods with blasters at the ready. He looked around, trying to decide which way to go, when he noticed very faint footprints in the red earth. He took his saber out as he followed them, occasionally losing the indistinct trail before finding it again a few feet ahead. He followed the tracks over a hill, then down into a ravine. The woods became even more silent the deeper he ventured in until the hum of his ship and the noise of the Troopers' armor disappeared completely, leaving him only the sound of his own footfalls and breath.

After an hour or so he came to another small clearing, and his brow furrowed. The tracks stopped right in the middle, and he could see three small, rectangular indentations in the dirt. Another ship had been here, had picked up those who left the tracks. Ice rushed through his veins before fire took over as anger swept over him. He turned around just in time to see the distant shape of his ship and the decoy rebel ship rising out of the atmosphere towards the waiting destroyer above.

"No!" he shouted to the air, but deep in his heart he knew there was no point to it. The ship, the Troopers… this was all an elaborate ruse. He had sensed Hux's hesitations towards his leadership, felt the General's disgust at being in his presence, but he had not once thought the man able to commit treason. But there was no doubt about it as the Destroyer suddenly went to light speed and left him stranded, he had just experienced a coup. Hux was intelligent, he knew how to play to Ren's weakness and not raise suspicions, and Ren had just paid for his inattention to his second-in-command. His first instinct was to fire up his saber and destroy everything around him, but this time he resisted. Wanton destruction would not help him, so he needed to conserve his energy and think of something that might. The First Order was not an option, he knew his reputation was too poor and his leadership too young for someone in the organization to feel any real loyalty to him. They would offer no help. Even if they would, he could think of only one way to contact the outside world, and those connections wouldn't be going to the First Order. He knew that chances of them helping were slim, but if he could mentally connect to either Hermione or Rey they might offer his only hope at being rescued from the planet. Though, realistically, he knew they would probably leave him to die.

XXXXXXX

In the week since Crait the quasi-celebrity status Hermione had predicted would happen came and died down, and she was thankful that the near constant requests for shows of magic had stopped. Sirius had realized quickly she was not in the mood for attention and would intercept anyone he thought might bother her. She had gotten closer to Rey and Finn as the three of them would sit together with Poe and talk strategy, but even then Hermione was feeling a bit pessimistic. Poe was not-so-subtly suggesting that she go on a tour of sorts, the girl who stood next to Luke Skywalker and faced down the First Order, to help drum up more interest in the Resistance. Hermione was very much against anything that put her in the spotlight or even gave her position away, thinking that once word got out to the galaxy the First Order would not hesitate to find some way to destroy the planet to make sure she was dead.

In the meantime she busied herself teaching Rey to close her mind, to keep her occasional connection with Kylo Ren tuned out, and Rey had threw herself into the studies happily. Hermione wondered if part of that was jealousy over how much time Finn spent next to Rose's bedside. Rey, in return, tried to teach Hermione the basics of using the Force, but Hermione quickly found she preferred her magic. Occasionally Leia would call them all in for a meeting, but the only things they really discussed were pockets of Resistance fighters starting to gather around the galaxy. The Resistance was growing, but no one really seemed to have a plan on how to use it to take down Ren and the First Order. Twice, late at night when there was only a small group of people still awake and on-duty, she slipped down to the room with the veil, but each time it remained dark. She sat for hours with her back against the cold stone arch, straining to hear voices on the other side, but it was silent. She tried to convince herself that just meant no one was in the room in the Department of Mysteries, but she knew it just meant the arch wasn't connected.

"Granger!" Poe's voice drew her out of her thoughts, and she realized she had been pushing some kind of purplish stew around while sitting at a crowded table.

"You alright?" the pilot asked, looking concerned.

"Yeah," she nodded half-heartedly. "Just… feeling a little homesick. This is about the time last year I sent my parents to live on the other side of the planet so the Death Eaters wouldn't get them, I'm just remembering all that," she added, surprised at the ease the lie came tumbling out of her mouth. She hadn't thought of her parents in a long time, though the pain of that probably read enough on her face to make her lie convincing.

"It's alright there, Hermione," Sirius said, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"It will be," she murmured, standing. "I'm sorry, I just don't feel hungry tonight. I'm going to do some reading and go to bed."

"Are you sure?" Poe asked. "We were going to play games after dinner, you're more than welcome to join us."

"I'm sure. Next time, alright?" she smiled. "I'll see you in the morning," she added before anyone else could speak. She turned and left, feeling the groups' eyes upon her until she disappeared down a staircase. She tried not to think about what they might be saying about her as she made her way to her small room, entering quickly before someone saw her and warding the door behind her. She closed her eyes as she collapsed on her bed, trying to clear her mind. She hadn't been sleeping well, dreams of Hogwarts in flames and Kylo Ren sitting on a black throne plagued her and kept her awake most nights. If only she could clear all the thoughts in her mind before she went to bed maybe tonight would be the night she actually got a good rest...

A tugging at the side of her mind made her open her eyes for a moment, but she shook her head and closed them again. It wasn't like Kylo hadn't tried to contact her via their mental connection before, and she had thus far had no problems in keeping him out. But as her mind cleared of other thoughts she noticed something unusual about the tugging. There was a twinge of fear to it. The part of Kylo that was connected to her was feeling afraid, which meant that Kylo was feeling fear. Her first thought was _good, I hope he has good reason and this isn't just him being paranoid_ , but she quickly realized that Kylo might be impulsive and have a quick temper, but she hadn't known him to show fear even in strange situations. Concentrating hard to still keep him out she mentally nudged the part that was tugging, just enough to get a vision swimming in front of her eyes. Tall trees and reddish earth, and the overwhelming feeling of isolation.

Her eyes shot open as sprang out of bed. Something big had happened, she could feel it, but she was still wary of opening her mind to Kylo any more than she already had. But she had recognized that planet the moment she saw it, and her instincts were screaming at her to go there.

Running as fast as she could back towards the mess hall she turned a corner and nearly ran straight into Poe's chest.

"You okay, Gra…" he started.

"I need a ride," she cut him off breathlessly.

"Where to?" he asked with a nod.

"That planet you first found me on," she replied.

"What's there?" Sirius' voice came from behind Poe and Hermione's stomach sank a little. She wanted as few people to know about her vision as possible.

"Kylo Ren," she replied.

"And why the hell would we be going there?" Poe nearly shouted, and Hermione made a gesture for him to keep it down.

"I think he's there alone," she answered softly. "I think something big happened."

Poe and Sirius exchanged a look. "How do you know?" he asked.

Hermione looked from him to Sirius, and she sighed deeply before saying, "He and I have… a connection. Part of his mind is always with me. I don't know how it happened," she added hastily when Poe opened his mouth to question her. "But it happened while we were together on Hinari."

They exchanged another look.

"Please," she looked up at Poe. "I don't know how I can explain why I feel this, but I feel like not going to him right now would be a big mistake."

Poe looked at her, very clearly conflicted, before seeming to give in. "Alright," he nodded. "We'll have to borrow Aliza's ship…"

"She's going to kill us if she finds us doing that," Sirius warned.

"You could stay here and distract her."

"No way. If she's going to kill me I might as well know what I'm dying for," he replied with a sideways smile.

XXXXXXX

As soon as they entered the atmosphere of Hinari Hermione could feel him. Her heart started pounding against her chest and she bit her lip, wondering if she was about to make another mistake, but she didn't say anything as Poe brought them lower.

"Land here," Hermione ordered, pointing to a clearing well away from where she was feeling him. They exited the ship and Poe locked it down for safety as Hermione's eyes scoured the woods, almost expecting Ren to appear out of nowhere and attack them.

"After you," Sirius finally said.

Hermione started forward, towards where she was sure Kylo was. She made sure she stayed a few steps ahead of the men, her wand at the ready, a spell sitting on her tongue to send Poe and Sirius flying out of harm's way if she had completely misjudged the situation. As his presence grew stronger she sped up a little, trying to put more distance between her and the men, but they sped up with her, determined not to let her face Kylo alone. Finally they could see a clearing through the trees, and a figure clad in black on the other side. Hermione stopped, but knew that Kylo already knew she was there as he stared intensely at the spot where they were standing.

"Stay here," she ordered. "If something goes bad, run."

"I'm not leaving you here with him," Poe shook his head.

"You are if it means getting back to the rebels and telling them what you saw," she turned and looked at him. "This is bigger than you and me. Don't mess it up by acting a hero."

"Just… stay far enough away you can get away, too, Granger," Sirius warned.

She nodded, and walked forward, wand held up in front of her. She stopped on the other side of the clearing, and for a long moment they looked into each other's faces.

"Where are your troops, _Supreme Leader_?" she asked, venom thick in his title.

He winced as she said it. "Gone," he admitted. "They left me here. I'm sure Hux is in charge by now."

"Good," she shot back, but she was skeptical and searched the sky just in case they were about to be ambushed.

"You don't trust me," he raised an eyebrow.

"Give me one good reason, Supreme Lea…"

"Ben," he interrupted, and the name shocked her silent as she stared at him in disbelief.

"What?" she asked softly.

"It's gone," he said. "All of it. Everything. Everything I've been working for has been taken."

"What do you want me to do about that?"

"Nothing," he shook his head. "I have to let that part of my past go, which means I have to let Kylo Ren go, he's not wanted by the First Order or the Resistance."

"Do you think Ben is any more wanted?"

"I don't need Ben wanted by either side," he shot back, but his eyes were pleading.

"I can't trust anything you say," she replied barely above a whisper.

"Please," he said, holding a hand out.

She looked back at Poe and Sirius, who shook their heads simultaneously. After thinking a moment she transferred her wand to her left hand and cautiously stepped forward. It took her a full minute to slowly cross the clearing, body turned sideways in preparation to run if he made a movement towards the saber on his belt, but he stayed perfectly motionless with his hand held out to her. She studied his eyes as she reached out to him, touching her fingers to his. Visions of his short time as Supreme Leader passed in front of her eyes, but one thing stuck out: He had been looking for her the whole time. There was no anger towards her, no desire to hurt her, but rather he was worried that her proximity to the Resistance leaders would lead to her being hurt.

"You knew I wasn't going to give up the fight," she told him.

"And I knew that if we found you I wouldn't be able to use you as an excuse not to attack."

"You weren't really looking that hard," she said as she focused on the memories for a moment.

"Only a couple dozen of you survived Crait, and we had just lost the flagship. At the time I didn't think that not going after you was noticed, but I'm sure that's why Hux planned this coup."

"What do you want now?" she asked.

"Revenge," he answered honestly.

"So you want to be back with the First Order?" she snapped, feeling anger rising in her chest.

"No," he narrowed his eyes. "I want to burn it to the ground."

She realized she didn't detect a hint of deception in him. "You're not going after them alone," she muttered.

"No, I need help," he replied, glancing over her shoulder where Sirius and Poe were watching intently.

"I'm not in charge of the Resistance, you know," she told him. "You do know that if you want to be a part of this there's someone you're going to have to convince."

"Who?" he asked.

"Your mum."


	16. XVI

"No," Poe shook his head emphatically. "I am absolutely not doing it."

Hermione bit her lip to keep from letting off a sigh. "You're going to have to trust me," she said softly.

"I do trust you," he shot back. "But you're asking me to trust someone who, in case you didn't remember the last time we saw him, nearly killed all of us. The last time I was this close to him he tore information he wanted from my mind. I _can't_ trust him."

Hermione looked back across the field, where Ben was waiting, looking irritated and apprehensive. She could tell he was studying her as she talked to Poe, she could practically feel him analyzing how close they were and the way they looked into each other's faces when they spoke.

"They overthrew him," she pointed out, turning back to Poe. "The First Order is going through a regime change, it's the perfect time to strike."

"Good," he nodded. "I agree. But we don't need _him_ there for it. Tell him thank you for the information and we can get on our way."

"We can't just leave him here!" she protested loudly.

"I don't see why not. It's less than he deserves."

"He could be very valuable to us," she shot back.

"Or he could be tricking us, and we bring him back and he kills half of the base before someone can stop him."

"I trust him."

"I don't see why," he shook his head. "Because you two did this hand-touching thing and suddenly you believe whatever comes out of his mouth? Do you know how crazy that sounds?"

"Call it the Force, call it whatever you want, but I can tell when he's lying. He wants to help bring down the First Order."

"Then I'll drop him a ship and he can go after them all he wants."

"This could be the chance we've been waiting for..."

"Or it could be his chance to murder us all!" he snapped. He and Hermione stared each other down for a long moment before Poe turned to Sirius. "Will you please tell her this is madness?" he pleaded.

"It's madness," Sirius nodded to Hermione, but then he turned back to Poe. "However, it's the kind of madness that could win us the war."

"You're just as crazy as she is," he groaned.

"No, I just trust her as much as you claim you do," Sirius replied evenly.

"You really think he's not lying to her?" he raised an eyebrow.

"I think that Hermione would know if he's not."

"Am I missing something?" Poe looked around. "How is it that the touchy-thing makes you so sure about all this?"

"It's not the touchy-thing," she said softly. "I told you, he and I are connected, but I didn't tell you why." She took a deep breath before continuing, "When he and I were on Hinari together, the first time we touched, we saw the worst of each other's lives. Mine included my death, and for some reason he decided to try to save me. Ever since we've had this connection. I can tell his emotions, even from far away, and if I had opened my mind I could have communicated with him, and I can tell that he's not lying right now."

"I want to trust you, Hermione, but if you're wrong..."

"I'll take his saber," she interrupted. "I'll put it in my bag, he can't get it out of there. And I'll put up the same wards around him that I did when we were in that tent, so he can't get out of them, at least until we can get him to Leia and she can decide what to do."

"Why do you think Leia would want to have anything to do with him?" he raised an eyebrow.

"I... I'll let her explain. But she's going to want to know about all this," she assured him.

Poe looked at her, clearly still skeptical.

"Or maybe you can go get Leia and bring her here. I'll stay with him..."

"No," he shook his head. "I'm not leaving you alone with him."

"He won't hurt me."

"You keep saying stuff like that, but how can you be so sure?" he asked, sounding frustrated.

"I don't think he could hurt her," Sirius said softly, and they both turned to him. "Just look at the way he looks at her sometime, you'll see."

"Why would he even..." Poe trailed off, eyes going wide. He turned back to Hermione, looking at her as though looking at her for the first time, and she felt a blush rush to her cheeks. "Did you know how he felt?" he asked in a whisper.

"I figured it out when he kissed me," she admitted. "And for a while I thought I might be starting to feel the same way."

His jaw dropped open as he searched for words. "I didn't think it was _possible_ for him to think of someone in that way."

"No one gave him the chance," Sirius said. "I'd be willing to bet for a long time there have been very few people who gave a damn what he wanted or needed, just what they could get out of him or fixing him or whatever. I think he felt, for a very long time, that no one really cared about him. But then Granger comes in and she's incapable of not caring about someone, so despite everything she knew about him she probably showed him kindness and compassion, and for someone who had been starved of it she would be like water in a desert."

"That explains him, but you..." Poe muttered, turning to Hermione.

"I saw Ben," she replied. "I saw who he was before, how he became Kylo Ren, and I felt everything he was going through in those moments. And with our connection I knew he wasn't happy doing everything, and I knew..." she trailed off, biting her lip. "I needed a connection then, too. Something to hold onto with all the insanity I had been dealing with. And I guess I was being optimistic or idealistic, thinking that maybe fostering our connection would turn him from the Dark Side."

He sighed, and when he looked her in the eyes she could see a hint of sadness in his gaze. "You do know this is a long shot, right? That pretty much everyone on our side wants him dead."

"I know. But I have to try."

"And if Leia says no?"

"Then we'll run, he and I, and we'll wait until the fight happens and try to join it."

"Just... get his saber, and make sure he's secure."

She nodded, and walked back across the clearing.

"He doesn't want to take me," Ben said as she approached.

"I got him to agree, but you have to be unarmed, and when we get into the ship I have to put you back behind wards," she replied.

He reached down, pulling his lightsaber off his belt, and held it in his hand, looking at it before holding it out to her. She quickly plucked it from his hand and stuffed it into her bag, tapping the bag with her wand to prevent him from getting it out.

"I should have run with you when you suggested it," he murmured.

"I'm glad you didn't," she replied. "If we had Snoke would still be out there, and you wouldn't have the desire you do right now to help get rid of the First Order."

"But you would have been safe."

"I'm here," she pointed out. "So I'm as safe now as I would have been had we run."

"But now you're getting pulled into the big fight."

"Yes, we'll be there together," she assured him. "Come on, we should get going. The longer we stand here talking hypotheticals the longer the First Order has to get organized again."

She walked him back over to where Poe and Sirius were standing. For a long moment the four stood in silence before Sirius let off a little huff.

"You know, he looks like Severus," he said, nodding in the direction of their ship so the group started walking. "What is it about men who look like that and the dark side of things?"

"Says the man who turns into something that greatly resembles a grim," she shot back with a smile.

"You know, I haven't done that since I got here," he said, sounding a bit surprised.

"Can you?" she asked.

"I haven't tried, but..." he trailed off, and suddenly turned into the massive black dog.

"Wow!" Poe looked impressed. Sirius barked and wagged his tail, then took off between the trees.

"Who is that, Hermione?" Ben asked.

"Sirius Black, I knew him when I was younger, back on my world."

"How is he here?"

"There's an veil," she told him. "Everyone thought it was a connection between the world of the living and the world of the dead, but it's really a connection between my world and here."

He got silent as he walked alongside her, and didn't put up any objections as she took a seat near him in the back of the ship and she put up the wards around him. Sirius entered the ship still looking like a dog, and sat just outside the wards, looking at Hermione.

"If you want a pet you can bugger off," she smiled. "Wait until you get home, I'm sure Aliza will pet you."

Sirius changed back into a man as he laughed. "I don't know what kind of woman you think my wife is, but I assure you her preferences are not that far out there."

"They have to be a little out there, seeing as she married you," Hermione smiled.

"Watch your mouth," he beamed, then walked towards the front, taking a seat where he could talk to Poe and see out the front, but also could keep on eye on her and Ben. They took off and had made the jump to light speed when Ben finally spoke to her again.

"Do you know where this arch is?" he asked.

"I do," she replied carefully, and saw him looking up at her, his next question written clearly on his face. "I did consider going through it," she admitted. "But I think Sirius was right, I don't think it's working all the time. Just at certain points. It's gone dark and quiet, which is unusual, and not like what it was when Sirius went through." She bit her lip and tapped her fingers a few times before adding, "He thinks that once I've completed whatever mission I'm on here that it'll let me through."

"Will you go?" he asked, locking eyes with her.

"Not if I'm still needed," she replied carefully.

"But it's what you want," he pointed out. "You came back wanting to go home."

"Home can be an evolving thing," she whispered. "The longer I'm here, the more I'm unsure if I could leave this place behind. But that might change after I go through another fight."

He reached out to place his fingers gently on her cheek and temple. "Do you really think you could be happy here?" he asked.

Images passed through her mind, and she knew he could see them. He could see her friendships with Poe, Finn, and Rey, her ties to her past with Sirius and her desire to see little James Remus grow up, even the cautious maternal-style relationship that seemed to be slowly growing between her and Leia. He saw her excitement at seeing so many new, different places, the exhilaration she still felt at the thought of hurtling through space from place to place, and her desire to see so much more. But then her thoughts turned to Harry and Ron, friends she still shared the tightest bond with, and he could feel the ache in her heart at the thought of never seeing them again. He felt her resignation about the fight ahead, and how weary the constant threat of war was making her. And finally he saw his own face, and felt her cautious optimism about his sudden change.

He dropped his hand and placed it hesitantly over hers as hers rested on the seat between them. She bit her lip and looked over to see Sirius studying them, a slight scowl on his face, but she turned back to Ben.

 _We can end this soon,_ she heard him say in her mind.

 _I hope so,_ she replied.

XXXXXXX

Poe landed the ship on the farthest, darkest part of the landing strip outside the base. He and Sirius exited together, telling the lone guard that approached that they had left upon hearing a rumor of a Resistance pocket, but found nothing and had returned. Hermione and Ben stayed on the ship in silence, Hermione leaving the wards in place, waiting to see if Poe could convince Leia to come. After ten minutes she stood, hovering near the ramp and bouncing from foot to foot as she bit her lip and waited. Ben wished she wouldn't do that, her outward display of nervousness only fanned the fear inside him until, when they finally heard footsteps coming up the ramp, he was holding tightly onto the seat to keep from showing signs of his fear as well

Leia followed Poe into the ship, but stopped the moment she saw Ben, unable to stop the look of shock that took over her features. Ben stood slowly, walking to the edge of the wards without saying anything.

"What's going on?" Leia turned to Hermione.

"There was a coup," Hermione replied. "Ben reached out to me, he says he wants to help the rebels fight."

"Ben?" she said softly, turning back to her son.

"Yes," he replied, but there was tension in his voice.

She smiled at him, moving in front of him. "You've gotten taller," she said after a long moment.

"And you still find trivial things to say when you're not sure how to start a conversation," he replied.

"Well, I hadn't really considered the possibility of meeting you again, at least, not like this," she shrugged.

"I can honestly say I hadn't considered it either."

"You know I'll never be able to convince the others that this isn't a trick."

"I hadn't really hoped. But it doesn't matter, I still want to help take the First Order down."

She studied him, a tiny smile playing across her face. "Do I have Hermione to thank for this change of heart?"

Ben looked at her, and Hermione smiled warmly back at her. "She pointed me in the right direction," he started, "but it took me a while to take that path. And I'm not going to say that I take it out of the goodness of my heart. I'm mad. They humiliated me, they took nearly everything from me, and I want revenge. I think Hermione would prefer me on the path because I've seen the light and the error of my ways."

Leia shot a smile at Hermione, who shrugged. "I guess, for now, if revenge is what motivates you we will have to work with it. I daresay you took a path parallel to the one Hermione showed you, perhaps one day you can take her advice and move over to the one she directed you to."

"I think we might have a much better chance of getting him on that path if we take down the First Order, which, if anyone wants my opinion, is something we should probably do as soon as possible before they regroup."

"Well, I can't just march into the control room with you," Leia turned to Ben, "but I can use you. Will you tell me everything I need to know?"

"Yes," he nodded.


	17. XVII

The room was abuzz when Hermione entered. She saw Poe motioning for her, and she went and sat on a ledge next to him.

"Where is he?" Poe asked, his voice still soft even with the din of the crowd.

"Warded in my chambers," Hermione replied. "And I have his saber still, so the destruction he can do if he wasn't telling the truth is minimal."

"I still think this is madness," he looked at her.

"So many plans with this group seem to fall along those lines," she shot back as Leia arrived at the front of the group and held her hand up for silence.

"It has come to my attention that there has been a regime change at the top of the First Order. General Hux has taken control and cast out Kylo Ren," she announced, and the murmurs started back up immediately with a few people calling out questions.

"How do you know this?" Rey's voice cut over the others.

"Because I didn't close my mind to him as well as I taught you to close yours," Hermione replied. "Hux tricked him, gave him information that they had found me, and Ren followed it. They abandoned him on a planet, and yes, Poe, Sirius, and I confirmed it."

Rey's eyes widened, and Hermione immediately knew that she realized that meant that Ben was somewhere on the base with them.

Leia spoke up again, silencing the group. "The First Order is still recovering from our attacks on Starkiller Base, and again from the destruction of Snoke's ship. We have intelligence that they are currently using a Destroyer as their main base of operations as they discuss either repairing Snoke's or possibly moving to a larger ship. As of now they're hesitant to make it something like a Dreadnought, the Destroyers are easier to maneuver and they are expecting us to make a move. Which is what we are here to discuss. Since our arrival here we have learned that pockets of Resistance are growing. We have enough people and equipment to launch an attack, one that will hopefully take down the First Order."

"So we're going after Hux and his ship?" someone asked.

"Cut off the head and the body will die," someone responded.

"Not necessarily in this case," Hermione piped up, and all eyes turned towards her. "Thus far the First Order has been somewhat like a one-headed hydra, when the head is cut off another pops up in its place. Snoke died, and Kylo Ren took over. Kylo Ren was overthrown and Hux took over. If we take Hux and the top members of the First Order out we may cause a bit of chaos, but someone will take over. We need the body to die with the head. We need to convince all those Storm Troopers that there is a way outside the First Order, something more than what they have known."

"And how are we supposed to do that?"

"We need to show them Finn, get him on every screen we can, over every intercom we can. Prepare a propaganda piece telling them that they do have a choice in all this," she replied. "He can't be the only one who ever held a doubt, despite never knowing anything but what he was trained. And, let's face it, they've had a couple high-casualty events recently, and there's nothing like a sense of impending doom to make someone's convictions waver. We're not going to be able to turn them all, but if we turn enough the First Order won't be able to recover."

"That sounds like 'Finn is going to become a target quickly' to me," Finn said loudly.

"Probably," she replied.

"I guess I should be used to it by now," he replied with a sigh.

"But we're still going to need to get to Hux, which means a full-scale attack on their flagship," a woman pointed out.

"No, it means we need to get people to Hux and the higher ups to take them out," Hermione said. "There is some truth, taking out the ones in charge will cause the chaos we need to try to reach the Storm Troopers. But a full assault on a Destroyer is just going to wind up getting people killed, and we can't afford another mass casualty event ourselves."

"So, you're saying we need a small team to go in and take out the people in charge?" Finn asked.

"Would it help if I said you don't have to worry about that?"

"Of course I'm going to worry about that, because whenever someone says that it's usually followed by 'we just need someone to create a distraction' and distractions are always dangerous!"

"Well, now I feel kind of like a prat, since that's exactly what I was going to say."

"Leave the distractions to me," Poe said. "I mean, as long as it's jumping in an x-wing and blowing something up..."

"How are you going to get rid of your energy after the war?" Leia asked.

"I'm sure I'll find something productive," he replied with a smile.

"That doesn't seem to help calm my nerves."

"Okay, but who is going to be the ones to actually go after Hux?" Rey asked.

"I'll do it," Hermione replied.

"It's not going to be just you."

"No, it's not. I have someone who can help, but I don't want to bring too many people. Large groups attract more attention than single persons or couples, and I can hide two very easily."

"Who is the other one?" Finn asked.

"Someone I trust, who I know has the skill to fight when it comes to it and the drive to do what needs to be done."

"That's an excellent way of saying a lot of words and not answering the actual question," he pointed out.

"I know who she is talking about, and I agree that the two of them are the best people for the job," Leia interjected, ignoring the sounds of dissent from the crowd. "I know that Rey would be a good choice as well, but I want Rey with Finn. Once Granger's group clears the control room she can protect Finn while he gets out his message. Take Rose, R2, and Threepio with you to help get the comm up."

"And the distraction?" Poe asked.

"We know where the factory producing the new First Order Tie Fighters is. You're going to hop in an X-wing and blow it up," she smiled at him.

"Do you really think that'll be enough to draw in Hux?"

"My source says that Hux is a very hands-on leader. He likes to be there to make snap decisions and see what is going on. If we go at it he'll show."

"What about the workers?" Finn asked. "From what I understand those factories aren't run by the First Order, they just fulfill orders made by them."

"Leave the workers to me," Sirius cut in. "I've got a few mates I'll bring down, we'll round them up and get them somewhere safe."

"How are you going to get down there?" Hermione asked.

"I don't need a wand to Apparate," he smiled at Hermione. "I still do that from time to time, so much easier than walking up all the stairs in this place."

"You lazy mutt," she smirked, and he let off a barking laugh.

"Everyone, break into your units," Leia announced. "We start this operation in six hours."

As people started to file out Rey came over to Hermione, Finn and Chewbacca following close behind.

"Where is he?" Rey demanded.

"Where is who?" Finn asked.

"Come on," Hermione motioned for them to follow her and started leading the way to her quarters.

"Who are you talking about?" Finn asked again loudly.

"Do you really trust him to help you?" Rey asked, ignoring Finn.

"I trust that he has a burning desire for revenge right now, but yes, I trust him," Hermione replied.

"What if he does exactly what I'm sure he's going to do?"

"That's why I wanted it to just be me with him, so if he's not speaking the truth I'm the only one who gets hurt."

"Who are you talking about?" Finn nearly shouted as Hermione pushed the button to open her door. "What the hell?" he cried when he saw Ben sitting at Hermione's desk, and Chewbacca let off a loud noise.

"Will you come inside before you make a racket and bring half the base down here?" Hermione snapped, pushing Finn forward.

"What the hell is he doing here?" he asked.

"Waiting until I can get my revenge," Ben snapped.

"Okay, but why are you in Hermione's room?"

"Because if he was out wandering around people would be trying to kill him," Hermione replied.

"And that's a bad thing now?"

"Finn..."

"I'm sorry, I just react poorly when I find out our whole plan rests on Kylo Ren not only doing his part of it, but also not turning around and betraying us as soon as Hux and the other leaders are gone. Or am I the only one who thought of that possible outcome?"

"Of course you're not the only one, that's why..."

"Hermione is going to kill me if I try," Ben interrupted.

"What?" Hermione, Rey, and Finn said in unison, looking at him.

"I've betrayed her trust enough I daresay that once more will lead to my demise," he continued calmly.

"It doesn't sound like you ran this by her first," Finn pointed out.

"I didn't, but Hermione knows that everyone she really cares for will be in grave danger if I turn against you. In case no one has noticed, Hermione takes threats to her own life in stride, but threaten someone she loves and you better be ready for a battle."

Hermione looked him in the eye and nodded. "If he betrays my trust one more time, if his actions threaten my friends or the mission, I'll take care of him myself," she vowed.

"When did you trust him before?" Finn asked.

"It's a long story," Hermione replied, eyes not leaving Ben's. To stop further conversation she turned and looked at Chewbacca. "Can you get us close enough that I could Apparate us onto that Destroyer?" she asked.

Chewbacca let off a noise that sounded a little unsure.

"I'll put protective spells on the ship. They won't see it coming."

This time his noise sounded confident, and he smiled.

"Thank you. Finn, you should probably figure out what you're going to say."

"Right," he replied, suddenly looking nervous. He, Rey, and Chewie left, leaving Hermione and Ben alone, Ben not able to meet Hermione's eyes.

"Do you really expect me to be able to kill you?" she asked softly.

"I expect you to try if you feel you, or someone you love, or the Resistance is in danger," he replied.

"Are you planning on betraying us?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Do you think I'd tell you if I was?" he shot her a half-smile.

Her brow furrowed as she stepped closer to him, and touched her fingers to his face. Concentrating she could feel his anger, his drive for revenge against Hux... and also despair.

"You don't think you're going to survive this," she realized aloud.

"I think that I'm going to have both sides trying to kill me, with you and maybe my mother the only ones who wouldn't if given the chance. And if this does work, where am I going to go where I'm not going to be hunted for the rest of my life? I don't want to live constantly looking over my shoulder."

"Are you saying you _want_ me to kill you?" she asked. "Was that your plan? Go get your revenge and then pretend to turn so I would kill you?"

"If I thought there was any other way forward, I would have tried to convince you otherwise," he returned. "I have thought, ever since this mad idea came up, that if I could just convince you to take over when Hux is dead..."

"Absolutely not!" she nearly shouted. "I don't want to be Supreme Leader of anything, let alone a giant bloody military!"

He let off a soft chuckle before saying, "Mother told me once that those people who should have power don't want it. I didn't quite get what she meant until just now."

"I wouldn't make a good leader. They're not going to respect someone who came in just declared themselves the ruler."

"Yes, they would. Those Troopers aren't trained to think on their own, they're trained to follow orders from whoever is in charge of the First Order."

"We're trying to give them their freedom," she pointed out.

"And they may take it, if the leadership is gone and there's no one to order them to not listen and follow directions. But even if this works you're going to have a lot of Troopers who have no idea what to do and will probably resort to just carrying on as they had until the next leader comes along."

"I can't be that leader," she shook her head.

"You _won't_ be that leader, there's a difference," he said. I already told my mother that she needs to be prepared to send in anyone charismatic enough to get them to listen, but who also knows how to lead without being overbearing to wean them off constant order following. I think she mentioned three names she had in mind, Poe, Sirius, and Aliza."

"But you still plan on being dead."

"I'm dead already, Hermione, it's just a matter of which side gets the final shot."

"And you want it to be me?"

"I trust you to make it quick," he shot back.

She stared at him a long moment, mulling what he said for a long moment. "I have an idea," she said softly. "I'm not entirely sure it will work, but if it does, you can stay alive without having to worry about anyone hunting you."

"And if it doesn't?" he asked.

"We'll cross that bridge if we get there," she murmured, turning him to face her and pressing her forehead against his. "Don't give up, not yet."

He sighed and placed a hand on her waist, drawing her closer to him. "For you, I won't," he promised.

"I'm going to hold you to that," she replied softly. "If you try to force my hand by turning on me I'll capture you again and let the rebels decide what justice you'll face."

"You are a harsh woman, Hermione Granger."

"Only when I must be," she smiled.


	18. XVIII

"That's as much protection as I can give it," Hermione announced as the Millennium Falcon moved into position in preparation to jump to light speed. "It's the same protections I made to protect the ship when I first got here, and that seemed to keep it off the First Order's radars," she added.

Finn nodded as he pressed an earpiece to his ear. "Attack in progress... it's time to go!" he announced.

Hermione sat next to Ben a second before the ship rocketed forward. For several minutes they traveled in silence, each starting to get in the proper head space for their upcoming mission. When she was sure they were getting close Hermione reached into her bag and pulled out his lightsaber, holding it out to him.

"Are you sure you okay doing this?" he asked as he took it. "You do know that there's no way to unseat all the leaders without spilling blood."

"I know," she replied softly. "I can't say that I like it, but if I learned anything from the battle at Hogwarts it's that throwing nice curses isn't going to win a fight."

"You'll be brilliant," Finn said. "You already were, and the galaxy knows it."

"Well, that's not pressure or anything," she said with a weak smile.

Chewie roared over his shoulder at them.

"We have to be prepared to go," Ben said, standing up and holding a hand out to Hermione. The ship came out of light speed and they gathered as a group.

"Get far enough away they can't get you, but listen for us," Hermione instructed Chewie, who nodded and placed a paw on her shoulder.

"Thank you for bringing us," Ben added.

Chewie looked down at him a long moment, then patted him on the back twice before heading back to the captain's chair.

"I think he's starting to like you," Hermione said, pulling out her wand.

"He was practically my uncle growing up," Ben replied. "I think he's starting to forgive me."

Hermione held out her hands and took Finn and Rey's, and Ben hooked his arm around hers.

"Think of a good place," she instructed him, closing her mind and opening the connection with his. As soon as she saw a room materialize in his mind she turned, bringing them with her Side-Along, and landing in an empty storage room.

"You two stay here," Hermione said, tapping Ben's head and putting a disillusionment charm on him. "I'll come get you when we have it cleared. I'll try to reach you if things don't go as planned. If that happens you're going to need to find a way to get to Chewie yourselves."

"Don't worry about us," Rey nodded. "We'll figure it out. It's not Finn's first escape from one of these things."

"Because the last one turned out so well?" Finn shot her a look.

"Be careful," Rey said as Hermione put a Disillusionment charm on herself and opened the door a crack. When the coast was clear she went out into the hallway, grabbing a hold of Ben's cloak as it brushed her fingers when he walked past. She let him lead her through hallways, pressing herself against the wall every so often when Troopers or droids were coming at them. She focused on controlling her breathing and trying to keep her heartbeat steady, worried that her signs of nervousness would be overheard, and too soon Ben was stopping in front of the door to the bridge.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"As I'll ever be," she whispered back.

She felt the Disillusionment charms begin to lift as her magic re-focused on getting prepared for a fight, and she saw Kylo's hand reach out, causing the door to slide open. The door slid shut behind them, and she flicked her wand to make sure it stayed shut until they wanted it opened.

For a moment no one seemed to realize they were there, giving her just enough time to ward the other two doors to the bridge. It was only when Ben activated his lightsaber that the first person let off a sound of alarm that drew the attention of everyone in the room. Hermione instinctively put up a shield charm, which deflected the first round of blaster shots, sending them back towards the crowd and hitting a few of the people who had sent them her way. Out of the corner of her eye Hermione could see Ben striding towards Hux, using his saber to deflect shots coming at him. She knew she couldn't pause long, and she pointed her wand at the nearest console, causing it to explode and take down those who had been hiding behind it. A blaster shot nearly hit her from behind so she turned and did the same thing to the console on the other side before running to one side and jumping off the walkway. Blaster shots flew over her head, but the walkway protected her from the back, so she focused on moving forward. While she wanted to keep blasting the consoles she knew that if she did that there might not be a way to get Finn broadcast, so she started casting curses at troops as they popped up, trying to hit her. She worked her way towards the front, ducking behind consoles and standing up to fire curses, until she had gotten the one side cleared. She ran up some stairs and surveyed the room. Ben had caused enough blaster shots to rebound towards the shooters that most of the other side of the room had been hit, and those that did survive were trying to hide. In the middle of the room Ben stood over Hux, who was on his knees, babbling an apology.

"Ben!" she said, drawing both their attention.

 _You don't want me to kill him_ , she heard Ben's voice in her head.

 _I'm not a fan of the idea, but I'm not going to stop you,_ she replied. _But don't be like this, be better than what you once were. Make it quick._

Ben raised the saber high, and Hermione looked away, but a moment later he heard him say, "Hermione?"

"Yes?" she looked back at him.

He looked pained but lowered the saber. "Can you make sure he doesn't escape?"

Hermione conjured up thick black ropes that wrapped around Hux and bound his hands behind him.

"Thank you for your mercy, Supreme Leader, thank you..." Hux was saying.

"And gag him?" Ben looked at her.

Hermione hit Hux with a silencing charm.

"Anyone who surrenders to her now will get the same treatment," Ben announced to the survivors in the room. "I will not make the offer twice."

Once Hermione secured the last of the survivors she Apparated down to Rey and Finn's hiding spot, finding them sitting together in a darkened corner.

"How did it go?" Rey asked.

"The bridge is secured for now," she said, holding out her hands.

"How long do you think we have?" Finn asked.

"The quicker you get things said, the better," she replied, taking their hands and Apparating them to the bridge. There was pounding coming from all three doors when they arrived.

"We may have attracted some attention," Ben said, looking around.

"That was to be expected," Hermione replied. "At least they're not shooting at the window."

"Yet," he muttered, looking out, but the only ships they could see were heading towards the planet below.

"Who here knows how to get the intercom working on this thing? I want to broadcast a message to the whole ship," Hermione asked, turning towards the survivors.

They looked at each other, then one woman nodded.

"Right, up with you," she said, Vanishing the woman's bindings, but then casting the Imperio charm on her. The woman crossed to her station glassy-eyed and started tapping a screen.

"Wait," Finn hissed. "I still don't know what to say!"

"We don't have time for speech writing. You're going to have to wing it," Hermione told him, and Rey started guiding him towards the woman.

"Speak from the heart," Rey encouraged. "Tell them the kind of things that were going through your head when you decided to defect."

"Right," Finn looked unsure of himself, but the woman was positioning a mic in front of him, and a moment later a burst of static indicated that they were broadcasting around the ship. "Um... hi, everyone. My name is Finn, but I'm probably better known around here as FN-2187, or, more likely, the traitor. And I wanted to get a message out to the Stormtroopers out there, all of you. It's been a while since I ran away, and since I have I've learned some things. We've been taught our whole lives to believe in this, believe in the First Order, and what does it get us? Death, it gets us killed. It's not the big players who were blown up on Starkiller or on Snoke's ship, it's thousands of us. The First Order doesn't care, they'll just replace us with more like us. But out there you aren't disposable. Out there there are people who care about you, friends, friends that become like family. People that care if you die, people who give you a name because the thought that you're only referred to as a number disgusts them. People who are willing to fight for you to be free.

"Freedom is something that I'm still getting used to, something I'll probably be getting used to for a long time. I still find myself looking for someone to tell me what to do, to tell me if I'm doing something right. I know it's a terrifying thought when every single moment of your life you have been under orders, when you've been told where to sleep, when to eat, what to do... But there's so much more to the galaxy than that. All I did as a Stormtrooper was follow orders of those at the top. I wasn't given a free thought. But after I left..." he paused and looked at Rey. "I don't fight for the Resistance because they told me. I fight for them because it means fighting for people I love."

"Maybe wrap it up?" Ben hissed as one of the doors dented inwards.

"Right, yes," Finn looked up. "So, what I'm trying to say is you have a choice. For the first time in your lives you have a choice. You can stay with the First Order, and keep fighting and dying for those at the top, like so many have done before you, or you can choose to do something different. Today you can choose your own path, and we'll be there with a name if you want one."

"Time to shut it down!" Rey shouted, moving a bunch of debris to the door to help barricade it.

Hermione had the woman cut the transmission and tied her back up. For a moment everyone was quiet. The banging was most prominent on the one door, but there were shouts and impacts from behind the other two doors as well.

"So, we're surrounded, we've got no way out, and we've got prisoners," Hermione said, looking at the others. "If anyone has a brilliant escape idea, now would be a good time to voice it."

Finn looked at Hux and the group of First Order members. "It would be easier to escape without prisoners," he said.

"No," Hermione shook her head, and she was surprised to hear Ben chorusing her.

"That's exactly what they would have done to us, what I would have done not too long ago," Ben continued. "We're not going to win being like them."

"That still leaves us with prisoners and no escape," she pointed out. "We can't exactly leave them here, that defeats the purpose of coming here."

"I called Chewie, told him to be outside that window as soon as he can, maybe you can take them a couple at a time?" Rey suggested.

"That might..." she started, but was cut off by her comm device coming to life.

"Granger," Sirius' voice came through.

"Yes, Black?" she replied.

"Open the rear door," he said.

Hermione hesitated. "Is Fudge with you?" she asked, hoping he got the reference as a code to assure he was safe.

"Delivering Dumbledore, actually," he replied.

Hermione waved her wand, unlocking the back door, which slid open to reveal a large group of Resistance fighters. She realized her mistake only a second too late as a couple shouted out "Kylo Ren!" and raised their blasters. Instinctively she reached behind her as the first few shots sounded, grabbing a hold of Ben's hand. She glanced over her shoulder and saw the Falcon outside the window, so she turned on the spot and Apparated them onto the freighter.

"Go, Chewie!" she shouted, and she felt the ship turn and take off. She turned back and saw Ben sliding to the floor, the front of his tunic covered in blood.

"Ben!" she cried, catching him before he hit his head. She held him up long enough to conjure a pillow for him to lie on, and then used her wand to cut open his tunic so she could see his wound. His upper left shoulder had a blaster wound in it, blood pumping out each time he took a ragged breath.

"Why didn't you stop it?" she shouted at him as she pointed her wand at the wound, muttering a spell. The wound closed part of the way, but still stubbornly refused to stop bleeding.

"You seemed very opposed to killing me yourself, and I thought this would be the best way to give you your freedom."

"Stop it," she hissed. "If you expected to die you've gone and connected yourself to the wrong witch," she added, pulling out her first aid kit and pulling out her essence of dittany. She heard Chewie coming to stand behind her as she dropped a little onto the wound, causing Ben to hiss in pain as there was a puff of green smoke and the wound closed the rest of the way. Chewie let off a noise that caused Ben to let off a mirthless chuckle.

"What did he say?" Hermione asked, running her fingers over the new skin.

"That he's sick of Skywalkers being dramatic," Ben replied.

"To tell the truth I'm getting a bit tired of it as well," she shot back, taking his hand. "Squeeze," she ordered.

"You should have just let me go," he muttered, but his fingers tightened around hers for a moment. He winced as he did so, and Hermione touched around the wound again.

"Broken bones," she muttered. "This isn't going to be pleasant."

"None of your healing methods are," he managed before letting off a cry as she waved her wand and fixed them. "For as advanced as you are no one in your world has figured out how to heal painlessly?" he growled through clenched teeth.

"If you ever try something this boneheaded as trying to get yourself killed again I'll vanish the bones and make you grow them back," she muttered, moving so she was sitting next to him. She dug in her bag and came up with a phial, but swore when she saw it was empty. "I'm out of blood-replenishing potion, so you're just going to have to deal with being a bit weak for a while."

"They saw that I'm alive, and they saw you take me away. You're probably already being labeled a traitor."

"I'm not worried. Finn and Rey were there, they can tell the story."

"Do you think anyone will believe it? And even if they do, they're still going to want me dead."

"I told you, I'd take care of that," she muttered, reaching out to run her fingers through his hair.

"You didn't tell me how."

"You'll find out," she promised. "Chewie, could you please take us back to the base?"

Chewie nodded and went back to the cockpit. Hemrione adjusted herself so she was leaning against one of the walls. She took one of Ben's hands and absentmindedly stroked his fingers, hoping that everything would soon work itself out.


	19. XIX

Chewie landed the Falcon on the far outskirts of the base and shut everything down but a few soft interior lights. He came towards them and let off a questioning growl.

"You go inside, if something bad happens I don't want you in the middle of this," she urged him.

He let off a sad noise and opened his arms, and she stood and hugged him.

"We'll be safe," she assured him.

He turned to Ben and let off a few stern-sounding growls.

"Everything I did to try to make that _not_ happen," Ben replied with a pained half-smile.

Another few growls, this time softer and friendlier.

"You take care of yourself as well, Chewie," he replied, holding a hand up and clasping the Wookie's outstretched hand. They held it for a long moment before Ben let go and Chewie disappeared down the ramp.

"Do you think you can sit up?" Hermione asked.

Ben nodded and started pushing himself up, and she took his good shoulder and helped get him up, then helped maneuver him so he was propped against the wall.

"I think we're going to have to wait until you're strong enough to move," she muttered.

"I can move if I have to. We can't wait too long, or we risk them finding us," he replied.

"And here I thought I was about to get another speech about how it's best to leave you to die and save myself," she smiled at him.

"You are a remarkably stubborn woman," he returned. "You wouldn't listen, and I seem to remember you saying you were getting sick of Skywalker dramatics."

"At least your brain seems to be functioning," she murmured. "I'm going to go see if the coast is clear."

"Is there any point in telling you to keep yourself safe even if it's at my expense?"

"Only if you want to motivate me to do the exact opposite," she replied.

"Fine. Be careful. Or don't. Whichever motivates you."

"Don't be a prat," she chided, giving his hand a squeeze before standing up. She cautiously made her way down the ramp, crouching and peering around as soon as she could. Chewie had parked it so the ramp was facing away from the base entrance, so she was able to make it to the bottom without anyone noticing her. She moved swiftly towards a rock formation, crouching behind it and waving her wand at the ramp, closing it and sealing it for safety. A couple ships flew slowly overhead, and she peered over the rocks to watch them land. Most of the ships were still gone, so there wasn't much in the way of personnel around, but she still watched for a few moments until the pilots and their droids disembarked and went inside. Then she cautiously moved forward, keeping to the dark areas along the side of the mountain where the lights that lit up the landing area didn't reach. She finally came to the opening of the base, and she peered around the corner. A few droids moved around, some carrying parts for damaged ships, others examining the ships themselves. There were two pilots chatting by the door that would lead her down the stairs, but they were starting to strip off their flight gear and put it up, so she knew they would be leaving soon. The coast was clear enough that it would probably be the best time for her to try to move Ben, before more ships from the fight started coming back and the place became overrun with Resistance fighters. She turned to head back to the Falcon and nearly ran into Sirius' chest.

"What the hell?" she yelped in surprise.

"Nice to see you, too, love," he smiled. "You ran off."

"They started shooting," she pointed out before ducking around him and starting towards the Falcon, but he quickly was walking alongside her.

"Yes, they did, and they saw you take him to escape," he told her.

"So if they see me again they're going to start shooting," she guessed.

"Your legend status is somewhat tarnished by those particular actions," he smiled. "Though I think most of them think you're some naive young girl who has been somewhat brainwashed by Kylo Ren. As long as you don't interfere with them shooting him again..."

"In case you didn't notice, this is me interfering," she muttered.

"And in case you didn't notice, this is me helping you interfere," he smiled as she opened the hatch to the Falcon and the ramp came down.

"What happened after we left?" she asked as they walked up together.

"Chaos," he beamed. "The most glorious chaos. Finn's words really touched some of the Stormtroopers. It's hard to tell how many, you know, because they all look the same, but there was a lot of fighting between them, which is how we managed to get up to you rather unscathed. It's a bad time to be any type of leader, though, it seems like those Stormtroopers who are revolting are aiming for them."

"It's probably the only chance they have," she pointed out. "The more leaders who are dead, the fewer there are to give the rest of them orders. And it's easier to slip away from a leaderless army."

"We secured the group from the bridge and got them off the ship. As we were leaving there were a fair few TIE fighters that were following but not shooting, so some of our pilots have slowed down to escort them somewhere safe until we can figure out what is going on. From what it sounds like the First Order is currently in a state of anarchy and revolt, that message got out everywhere. It's going to take a long time to sort this mess out."

"The first thing you're going to do is to sort out anyone who has ever had a position of power in the First Order," Ben jumped into the conversation.

"Yes," Sirius nodded. "I don't envy Hux at the moment."

"Nor will you envy me if they catch me."

"You they'll shoot on sight," he pointed out. "You're too dangerous to try to capture."

"What is the plan now?" Hermione asked.

"The plan now is to let the dust settle a bit," he replied. "A few fighters are going to try to capture a few more higher-profile targets from some of the other ships and those working on some planets. We're going to bring those we've captured to justice, and I'm sure we're going to make examples of them all. The First Order has gone through three leaders in a little over a week, I can't imagine the position is going to be very popular at the moment, so hopefully that stops them from reorganizing for a while. And we're going to see what happens with the revolting Stormtroopers. If they take over, we can work with that, but if they don't we'll have the survivors we'll take in and at least there will be a lot less of the First Order to deal with when we regroup. Which now begs the question- what are the two of you going to do?"

"Well, considering that they want to kill him..." Hermione nodded towards Ben. "I'm going to see if your hunch about the arch was correct."

"That's what I thought," he sighed. "Can't say I'm surprised."

"I'm done with wars for a while, Sirius," she murmured. "I think I've given more than enough."

"You won't find me arguing with that," he smiled. "Can you stand? The quicker we get you down there, the better. People are going to start coming back soon, and when they do it'll be a lot harder to move around."

Ben gritted his teeth and pushed himself into a standing position. He was shaky on his feet but still managed to take a couple steps forward. Hermione noticed him checking to make sure his saber was secured before he nodded. She put a Disillusionment charm on each of them and wrapped Ben's arm around her shoulders, starting to follow Sirius. As they walked Hermione realized that he felt different, that the ever-present darkness looming over him had diminished somewhat, still there, but much closer to balanced with the light. She also could feel him radiating hope, but it was cautious, his nerves still alight and ready in case they were discovered and had to fight. She was glad no one could see the smile she let off as Sirius confidently strode towards the stairwell that led down to the arch room. He glanced around to make sure no one would notice him holding the door a moment, and waved them forward. Ben was slow on the stairs, still shaky from his wound, but they made steady progress as they descended. Finally they came to the room, and peeking through the window Hermione could see the arch looked bright again, the veil glowing white, and her heart jumped, but it fell as Sirius opened the door and she realized the room was occupied.

Leia and Poe stood just to one side of the arch with BB8 next to Poe's feet, talking softly with each other, and they looked up as the door opened. Not too far away Rose, Finn, Rey, and Chewie stood silent but together. C3PO and R2D2 were on the other side of the room, examining a console.

"They're with you, aren't they?" Leia asked.

"Can't trick everyone, Granger," Sirius said over his shoulder. "Come on out."

Hermione hesitantly lifted the Disillusionment charm, and saw Leia's face fall.

"You're hurt," she muttered, stepping forward and touching the front of Ben's tunic.

"Hermione healed most of it," he replied, clearly uncomfortable with Leia acting like a mother.

She shot Hermione a smile. "We've been very lucky to have her," she said softly. "Even if she is leaving us. Though..." she looked up into his face, "I don't think she's the only one."

"You know what will happen if I stay here," he muttered.

"I know. I know I can beg, I know we can try to tell the story, but I know there's enough people in the galaxy that want you dead that you wouldn't truly be able to live your life. And, as much as I'm sure you don't want to hear it, I am your mother and I do want you to be safe and free to make your own choices without worrying about someone trying to hurt you and those you love."

He looked at her for a long moment. "I know you want an apology, more than one apology, really, but I'm not ready to give one," he said softly.

"I understand. I owe you one as well. I thought I was doing what was best, but I should have admitted the reality of the situation. I should have been there."

"I don't think you being there would have changed anything."

"Perhaps it wouldn't. But I got so swept up in what was going on around the galaxy that I neglected to see what was going on in my own family, and that was a mistake on my part. One day I hope you'll forgive me for it."

He looked pained, then took a deep breath before saying, "I do forgive you."

Without warning she wrapped her arms around him tightly, and after a moment he did the same.

"You take care of yourself over there," she said into the fabric of his tunic. "It's a fresh start, not everyone gets one, so make it a good one. And take care of her. We owe her so much."

His eyes shot up to lock gazes with Hermione, who bit her lip and looked at her feet. "I will," she heard him promise.

"Before things get too weepy around here," Poe smiled, stepping forward and wrapping Hermione in a bear hug. "I am really going to miss you, Hermione. It has been a privilege getting to know you."

"It's been a privilege becoming your friend," she replied, hugging him tightly and resting her head on his shoulder. "You take care of yourself. Try not to blow too much stuff up recklessly."

"I'll try on both counts," he smiled. "If he gets to be too much, just do what you think I would do."

"You're terrible," she chuckled, and her attention was drawn by a series of beeping noises by her leg. She looked down to see BB8 rocking back and forth, nudging her a few times. She laughed and crouched down. "Don't tell anyone, but I'm going to miss you most of all," she said, rubbing the droid's head.

"I heard that," Poe laughed.

"He's cuter than you," she shot back, standing up.

"We're going to have to give you a different paint job, buddy," he looked down at the droid. "You're being a terrible wingman."

Hermione chuckled and turned to Rey and Finn.

"Thanks," they all said in unison, each letting off a nervous chuckle.

"Take care of each other," Hermione continued.

"Take care of him," Rey said, shooting a look at Ben.

"You're actually worried about him," she sounded surprised.

"Just a little," she admitted. "I mean, I don't want him hurt."

"I don't mind if he gets a little hurt," Finn spoke up.

Hermione chuckled and shook her head. "Don't ever lose that, Finn."

"I'd say okay, but I'm not quite sure what you're talking about."

"I'll explain it," Poe offered. "You've got one more goodbye to say."

Hermione turned around to see Sirius standing behind her, a sad smile across his face. Suddenly a wave of guilt overcame Hermione, and she felt tears stinging her eyes.

"Just ask, and I'll stay," she said with a lump in her throat.

"I'm not going to ask," he said, stepping forward and taking her hand. "It was nice seeing someone from my past, but you don't belong here. You came with a mission, and I think you accomplished what you came here for. Now you need to go back, Harry has needed you for years, and he probably still needs you. Did he still want to be an auror?"

She nodded.

"Then he's going to need you there to make sure he knows the proper spells to save himself," he beamed. "And you need to be home, you deserve it after everything you've gone through."

She thought of something, and held her wand out to him. "I can get a new one when I go back," she said.

"I don't want it," he shook his head. "I'm going to try to figure out this Force thing, in case James is a wizard, so at least I can help him with that since he won't be able to get a wand of his own. Leia suggested I talk to someone named Maz."

"Good luck with her," she laughed.

"I can take care of myself," he smirked, holding his arms out, and they hugged tightly for a long moment.

"You take care of your son," Hermione whispered.

"And you take care of Harry," he muttered into her hair before he released her. He reached into his pocket and pulled out an envelope. "I've been carrying this for a while, I wrote it after you appeared, when I knew that you'd be leaving at some point. I can't be there to tell Harry why I'm not coming back, but he deserves to hear it from me in the best way I can."

"I'll make sure he gets it," she promised, taking the envelope from him and placing it carefully in her bag.

"Are you sure you're okay? You look like you're about to face down a room of Death Eaters by yourself."

"I just... what if I was wrong, and we lost? And I'm going back to a world where Voldemort won?"

"I don't think the arch would let you go back to that," he assured her. "And if it did, you're going to have someone with you who won't let you get hurt."

"What if you're wrong, and this doesn't take us home?"

"You're Hermione Granger. You will deal with it, probably fueled by anger that it didn't work, and if I were the universe I'd be too afraid to upset you again. Now, it's time to show a bit of that Gryffindor courage, and go enjoy the rest of your life surrounded by those who love you."

She let off a shaky breath, looked at the arch, and then at Ben, who nodded once. He stepped forward and held a hand to her, which she took, her nerves becoming amplified with his. They stepped up towards the arch together but paused, looking at the group around them one more time.

"Ready?" Ben asked softly.

"Ready," she nodded, and they stepped into the arch together.


	20. Epilogue

A soft 'pop' sounded around the property as Hermione Apparated herself and Ben to the edge of the Burrow's wards. She took a long moment to stare at the house, the lights lit up, giving everything a warm and inviting glow. She could see people moving in the kitchen and hear voices and laughter drifting out the open windows.

"Are we just going to look?" Ben asked.

"Are you sure you're up for another round of being surrounded by people?" she returned his question with one of her own. They had spent the first few hours since coming through the arch dealing with the Ministry, Hermione having to prove who she was, and Ben having to register himself for lack of anyone having a better idea what to do with a man who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. They were finally allowed to leave after speaking at length with Kingsley Shacklebolt, now Minister of Magic, who had agreed to keep her return a secret until she had been able to tell her friends. He also told her Harry had temporarily moved into the Burrow after the war, wanting to surround himself with his surrogate family in their shared grief.

"I think I will survive. I daresay they may not even notice me," he replied.

"Okay," she smiled, starting towards the house, her stomach starting to flutter.

"You're nervous," he commented.

"I don't know how they are going to take seeing me," she admitted. "What if they're mad."

He stopped, spinning her towards him wrapping an arm around her and looking intensely into her eyes. "Nobody is going to be mad at you," he assured her. "They will be relieved and, most likely, deliriously happy." He reached up to run a hand through her hair, pushing it away from her face. "This is a happy moment, don't let your fears take any of that away."

She nodded, a smile spreading across her lips before she reached up to wrap her arms around his neck and draw him down to her so she could press her lips to his. He drew her into him, holding her body against his and savoring the kiss.

"Thank you," she whispered against his lips. "I..."

"Hermione!" Several voices shouted in unison, and she turned to see that the Weasleys must have seen her through the window and were now pouring out of the house, Harry and Ron leading the pack. She let Ben go and rushed forward to meet them and they crashed into each other in a tangle of arms and happy sobs. For over a minute none of them were able to speak, though Ginny and George joined in the hug while Molly, Arthur, Bill, Fleur, and Percy stood not too far away, Molly's hand over her mouth as tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Where were you?" Harry finally managed to ask.

"What the hell happened?" Ron demanded at the same time.

"It is a very long story," she replied. "It's so good to be home, I missed you all so much."

"You were dead," Ginny whispered. "I saw you hit with the killing curse."

"But we couldn't find your body," Ron added.

"I know," she nodded. "But you're not one of a kind anymore, Harry. I survived it, too."

"How?" Harry asked in disbelief as Molly started forward to give Hermione a hug.

"I'm not entirely sure, but my best guess?" she looked behind her, holding her hand out towards Ben. "Ben saved me."

Ben walked forward, taking Hermione's outstretched hand as Molly looked him over, a warm smile across her face.

"It is good to meet you," Molly wrapped him in a hug, and Hermione covered her mouth to hide her chuckle as Ben awkwardly patted Molly's back.

"How did you save her, mate?" Ron asked as he stepped forward to shake Ben's hand.

"As I said, it's a _very_ long story that's going to take several strong cups of tea to get through," Hermione replied for him.

"I'll put the kettle on," Molly smiled, and she started to herd everyone but Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ben back into the house. Harry and Ron stepped forward, each taking one of Hermione's hands, and for a long moment they stood together, unsure of what to say.

"I have something for you," Hermione said suddenly, producing Sirius' letter and holding it out to Harry.

"Sirius is alive?" Harry asked, wide-eyed.

"Yes, and he's very sorry he's not coming back but, in his words, he 'can't abandon the pup'."

"What?" Harry and Ron shouted in unison.

"I'll let him tell you," she nodded towards the letter.

Harry turned it over, then put it in his pocket. "I think I can only take one story at a time," he muttered. "So, um, the two of you..." he raised an eyebrow as he looked between Hermione and Ben.

"Yes," she smiled, reaching back to take Ben's hand and drawing him forward.

"And... he saved you?"

"She saved me as well," Ben squeezed her hand.

"I'm sorry," she suddenly looked guilty and looked towards Ron.

"Don't be," Ron shook his head. "What happened during the battle... we never really got to figure things out. As long as you're happy, and he treats you well, that's all I wanted for you, Hermione."

"Thank you," she smiled, but her face fell as she looked at Harry, who was eyeing Ben apprehensively.

"You can feel him, can't you?" she asked softly.

"I wasn't sure, but... yes," Harry replied cautiously.

"You know I'm going to tell you both everything, right?"

Harry and Ron nodded in unison.

"So, I'll let you know first," she swallowed hard and squeezed Ben's hand.

"She is trying to find the right words to tell you about my former life as Kylo Ren," Ben announced for them.

"Kylo Ren?" Harry repeated, sounding confused.

"For a very long time I aligned with the Dark Side," he admitted. "Hermione decided her mission was to turn me away from that, and she is quite stubborn when she puts her mind to something."

"He's not fully turned away yet, but he's much better than he was. Give us a little break on that, we did just get out of a war," Hermione added.

"Another one?" Ron asked.

"Again, very long story. I promise you'll get it all, even if it takes a while."

Harry stepped forward again to wrap his arms around her. "I'm so happy you're back," he murmured into her hair, and a moment later Ron joined them.

"You smell like Molly's cooking," Hermione sighed a minute later.

"You know there's a ton of it in there, right?" Ron beamed. "And that she's probably already piled two plates with as much as they'd take. You're in for a treat, mate," he turned to Ben. "My mum is an amazing cook."

Hermione let off a soft groan and looked longingly towards the house.

"Time to face the family," Harry said, turning her towards the door and giving her a gentle push forward. "Coming, mate?" he turned to ask Ben.

Ben nodded and started to follow them towards the house. He wasn't sure what was to come, or how much Hermione would be willing to tell the group, but for the first time in a long time he felt true hope for the future. Before they reached the house he reached out to take Hermione's hand, and she gave his hand a reassuring squeeze as he could feel her happiness, and he knew that no matter what was coming he'd be able to face it with her.

XXXXXXX

Ben couldn't help but smile as he watched Hermione let off a laugh, her hand covering her mouth as she bent forward, other hand touching Harry's arm as her friend turned a brilliant shade of scarlet at whatever George had just said.

"I heard congratulations are in order," Bill Weasley said, taking a seat next to him. "Mum can't stop gushing about how nice your new house is."

"Hermione did seem to make her happy when she asked her for help setting up the garden," Ben replied.

"Well, mum considers her somewhat of a daughter, so it makes her happy when Hermione treats her like a mom."

"Hermione is quite lucky to have such a family," he finally tore his eyes away from Hermione and looked at Bill, and he gave an inadvertent chuckle. "Nice haircut," he smirked.

Bill sighed and ran his hand through his newly shortened hair. "I hate it, but if I wanted the promotion at the bank I thought it best to look professional. Does it really look that bad?"

"No, but it does remind me of someone."

"From before?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Yes."

"Someone good?"

"He was the man who once led the coup against me."

"Wonderful," Bill grumbled. "Glad to know my doppelganger is a massive prat."

Ben let off a chuckle and looked back at Hermione, who noticed his gaze and shot him a smile.

"So..." Bill started, "in the spirit of today, have you ever thought of making it official? It's been three years since you guys appeared or, rather, re-appeared in Hermione's case, and you have bought a house together."

Ben looked around the room, at the fancy outfits, the remnants of the elegant dinner, and the people dancing and talking, everyone with smiles on their faces, and he had to stop himself from admitting that he had done little else that day but imagine it was Hermione in the white dress saying vows to him rather than in her black dress standing just behind her best friend as he spoke the words to his bride. "I do think it's about time," he replied.

"Just warn me before you ask. I don't know if I can take mum's excitement over another wedding just yet, I might need to take a vacation until she calms down," he chuckled. A new song came on and Bill immediately stood, "Excuse me, I'm going to go find my wife. This is her favorite song and I'd hate for her to miss it."

Ben nodded as Bill walked off, then stood himself. He crossed over to Hermione, Harry, and George as Hermione let off another burst of laughter and Harry turned even redder.

"Do you mind if I steal her for a while?" he asked.

"Like I'm going to be able to stop her, mate," Harry replied.

Ben held his hand out to Hermione, who smiled as she took it. He led her onto the dance floor, wrapping an arm around her as he started to lead her along with the music.

"It's been a beautiful evening, hasn't it?" she looked up at him.

"It has," he nodded. "Though, when it is ours I think I would prefer fewer people."

Her step faltered a moment, and she raised an eyebrow. " _When_ it is ours?" she asked softly.

"I know a ring is generally a formality here, and I haven't had the chance..."

"I don't care," she interrupted. "When is good enough."

He drew her up to him to press his lips to hers, and she enthusiastically pushed herself into him, deepening the kiss without a care as to anyone around who may see. He let her carry on a bit, but pulled away when he thought they might be crossing the line into 'vulgar', or at least when his thoughts were.

"Fewer people is acceptable," she said. "But I don't want a tent. We're going to rent a hall."

"Have I just created a monster?" he muttered.

"After everything you've been through? A wedding will be nothing. And we will make it small. Close family and friends only."

She noticed his face fell and he looked slightly away, and she realized that by 'close family and friends' she meant _her_ family and friends.

"Or we could elope. Go somewhere and get it done just you and me."

"No," he looked at her, running a hand up her neck to cup her face. "You deserve the big celebration."

She reached up to kiss him again, then rested her head on his shoulder. "I love you," she said softly.

"And I love you," he replied.

XXXXXXX

The doors to the command center slid open, but Leia paid them no mind. She practically lived in the room, and people were always coming and going. The big war had been over for a while, but there were still pockets loyal to the First Order scattered throughout the galaxy, and she had spent the last few years taking care of problems as they arose. But she was getting older, and those close to her noticed she was starting to groom those like Poe, Rey, Finn, and Sirius to take over for her when she stepped down, which would be sooner rather than later.

"General Organa?" Sirius' voice brought her out of her thoughts. He was standing near her, clutching a red book to his chest. "Ma'am. Something came through the arch a while ago. I think you'll want to see it."

She wordlessly held out a hand, and he gently handed her the book. She opened the front cover, and immediately smiled. There was a picture of Ben, arms lovingly wrapped around Hermione, who was wearing a white gown and looked radiant. As she watched Hermione turned to Ben, who gave her a kiss before turning back to smile at the camera.

"This is a wedding portrait?" she looked up at Sirius.

"Yes, ma'am," he nodded. "There's quite a few pictures of their wedding in there."

She flipped through the pages slowly, taking in the happiness on her son's face as she saw pictures of them throughout the day, her heart swelling as she saw a few seconds of his life with each turn of the page. There were other pictures as well, pictures of a house, of them spending time with their friends, and of trips they went on together. When she got to the final page the picture was much different, still and grainy. Underneath it Hermione wrote 'It's a boy.'.

"She's pregnant," she let off a sound that was half laugh, half sob.

"It sure looks that way," Sirius nodded.

She ran her fingers over the picture, then looked up at him. "Is that archway still active?" she asked.

"Last I checked," he beamed.

"That's good," she smiled, closing the book and holding it to her chest, debating her next move.


End file.
